Deathcare 2.0

Mad Mitch ducking away from reporters

It's a big mystery whether the Republicans have enough votes to carry their infamous health care bill.  There are holdouts from both ends of the narrow conservative spectrum.  Cruz Missile Ted doesn't think the bill goes far enough in its repeal of Obamacare and Dear Susan Collins of the Great State of Maine is worried too many people will lose their insurance.  Mad Mitch can afford to lose two votes as he has a trump card in Mike Pence, who doubles as a Justice of the Peace when he isn't breaking ties on the Senate floor.

The CBO score is not quite as harsh as it was for the House version 1.0, saying the Senate bill would cut one million less Americans from health insurance.   It is really surprising that Trump would put his name on it given all the promises he made on the campaign trail.  You might remember he was going to cover everybody.  If this bill goes through, as many as 22 million persons could lose their insurance and millions more will see their premiums skyrocket.

There's all kinds of speculation as to who is pushing this volatile health care bill.  GOP Congressmen are feeling the heat from their donors, who are anxious to see the nearly one trillion dollars in tax cuts they have been promised.  Not to mention the insurance companies and Big Pharma who want to see the regulations imposed by "Obamacare" dismantled, so that they can go back to business as usual.  We live in a strange society where we don't take the advice of hospitals and doctors, but rather corporations and their billionaire CEOs.

Basically, we are putting the future of health care in the hands of the Koch Brothers and their ilk.  Mitch McConnell doesn't seem the least bit troubled by this.  Neither does glamour girl Kellyanne Conway who cynically said Americans will just have to work harder to afford health care.

His Trumpness is so desperate for a legislative victory he doesn't care what price he has to pay for it.  Too busy gloating over his recent "clear victory" in regard to his travel ban.  But, how he squares this pernicious health care bill with his rhetoric is really hard to swallow because it certainly isn't going to make health care any better in this country.

It will only make it demonstrably worse.  The Dems now find themselves in the position to use health care as a bludgeon on the 2018 campaign trail given all the negative press the so-called American Heath Care Act has been getting.  Republicans have been blindsided at town hall meetings and persons with disabilities staged a sit-in, or "die-in" as they called it, in front of Mitch McConnell's office only to find themselves forcibly removed.

All this is reminiscent of the 2011 Wisconsin protests that led to a recall election only for Governor Walker to hold onto his seat.  For some odd reason Americans are willing to accept these deep cuts.  I guess because they don't think it will affect them.  So what if ten or maybe 20 per cent of the public is hard hit by these austere measures, that's just the way the ball bounces.