Republicans Want Medicare to Die
The most expensive citizens to insure are America’s Senior Citizens. Whatever conditions they acquire—such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer—have had a lifetime to develop. And these conditions, once acquired, will usually be present until the time that they die.
And yet America has covered each and every one of our Senior Citizens from the time that they turn 65 until the very end. With Americans living longer and longer lives, many Seniors now live well into their 80s and beyond. Even to 100 and beyond. And we are glad to have them, our grandparents and our great-grandparents, and even our great-great-grandparents with us.
It is an expense that most Americans gladly pay, in order to keep our loved ones alive. But of course it is a large expense.
And yet we pay the expense as a nation, because we would not see our loved ones suffer and die.
America Insures Only the Most Expensive Americans
Insuring the most-expensive segment of the population has been a costly endeavor. The Democrats put this in place, back in 1965. It took them twenty years, from the time that President Harry Truman proposed it until the time that the Democrats managed to put it in place. This was in the first half of President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s tenure. Medicare was put through for our Senior Citizens during that time, and the Civil Rights Act was put through for all Americans in the same era, and the Conservatives turned away from the Democratic Party, as LBJ had foreseen, for the next 40 years.
Medicare Covers All Seniors....But Republicans Wanted to Kill It
During all this time that Medicare has made health care affordable for our Senior Citizens, Republicans have argued against it. Republicans argue against Medicare primarily on ideological grounds:
“It’s too expensive!” they cry.
“We can’t afford Medicare!” they shout.
“We don’t want big government running our health care!” they say.
Well, of course it’s expensive:
What do you think you get when you only buy the most-expensive things, without budgeting for all the rest?
We Insure More Than Just Seniors
On top of insuring Senior Citizens, already the costliest segment of society for health care, we also pay insurance costs for other expensive groups.
We Insure the Military
Our military—the soldiers, sailors, marines, and fliers who keep America safe—come back from war with myriad serious and costly medical conditions, both physical and emotional. And we pay for them all. Because our military—perhaps even more than our Seniors—deserve it. Our military suffers on our behalf, and the very least we can do is provide for their health care.
But it is expensive.
We Insure Prisoners
Our prisoners are another expensive group. And we pay their health care, too.
This segment of the population often leads lives riddled with drug addiction and other abuses. From tattoos (including those acquired with dirty pen points in prison) that lead to Hepatitis C and other practices that lead to AIDS, America pays for them all.
We Insure the Impoverished
The poor, too, we pay healthcare for.
We provide neighborhood health clinics in the poorer parts of our cities, and those not served in this fashion go to our hospital emergency rooms. And there in the ER, whether it’s a sore throat or a diabetic coma or a gunshot wound, America pays for it all.
We Pay for the Most Expensive: Why Not for the Least?
If we are already sharing the cost of health care for America’s costliest populations, it only makes sense to level out the field a bit more, and put everybody under the same reimbursement umbrella.
If cost is the issue—as the Republicans currently proclaim—then what better way to get those costs under control than to put the cheapest in the same tent with the most-exorbitant, and level out the costs for us all?
Republicans Work to Keep Medicare Too Expensive
But since 1965, for almost 45 years, the Republicans have worked to keep it so that the most-expensive health care to be paid for—is paid for out of the taxpayer’s your pocket.
The Republicans have made sure that Medicare is almost impossible for America to afford, so they can keep hollering out, “It doesn’t work! Socialized medicine doesn’t work! It’s too expensive! We can’t afford it! Medicare is going broke!”
Of course it’s going broke:
You Can’t Afford Steak and Lobster on a Hamburger Budget
The Republicans insist on serving up steak and lobster for dinner every night—while the rest of America eats low-cost, high-fat hamburger meat to pay for that steak and lobster (which, by the way, the members of Congress also get to eat, through their government-paid healthcare).
And then they keep fussing at Democrats for blowing the food budget.
If America is already paying for the most-costly patients—the poor, the prisoners, the military, the Seniors—and also paying its own insurance through employer-paid policies—and on top of that, we are paying the insurance companies bigger and bigger and bigger profits every year, then cutting out the insurance company profits, and using that money to pay for Medicare and the VA and the rest of us, can only cost less.
Why Not Keep Healthcare Profits Where They Belong?
A single-payer insurance system that covers all Americans, while paying the bills of the private sector, is the best way to encourage the private sector—doctors, hospitals, drug companies, medical-equipment companies—to continue providing the best possible health care, at the affordable costs that the free-enterprise system and free-market capitalism provides.
Let’s keep medical profits where they belong: in the
medical industry. Not in the pockets of private insurance companies.
Republicans Argue Ideology.....
While Americans Without Insurance Die
Now, Republicans can argue with this all that they want. They can talk about the threat of Big Government—but you can ask any Senior how he or she feels about Medicare, and you’ll know that Big Government isn’t really the issue.
The real issue is insurance companies. It's not that they're evil. But businesses need profits in order to survive. And it's just the profits that they have to take out of society that make insurance too-expensive. It's just the profits that require denials of coverage, whether for preexisting conditions or from loss of your job.
Republicans Cry “Choice!” But There Is No Choice.....
Republicans can argue about “choice” all they want. But under our current system of private insurance, there is no real choice.
When all the products available are supported by a broken system—
—that squeezes profits out of the misfortunes of patients and the dedicated service of doctors—
—and no available insurance policy will afford you complete coverage—
—without any rationing of preexisting conditions and illness-caused loss of employment—
—adding zero value to our health care—
—that leaves every single American taxpayer at risk of financial ruin—
—then you know that it’s time to give Medicare to everyone.
Republicans Are Determined to Bankrupt Medicare
The Republicans have worked for almost 45 years to kill Medicare. It’s time to put this destructive Republican ideology aside.
Now Let’s Work to Keep All Americans Alive...
Regards,
(($;-)}
Gozo!
