In certain civilized nations, people just have health insurance. From the moment they’re born, they have health insurance, which means that the mother, who just gave birth, delivered this baby under health insurance. Amazing. For a long time I thought it normal that Anericans had their health insurance tied to their job.
Members of Congress used to be part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) which was quite generous, more so than the current gold-level “Obamacare” they have now and would revert to if they were able to ban the ACA for their own purposes. Regardless, we pay for 72% of their premiums. Plus they get free or low-cost care from the Office of the Attending Physician and free care at any military outpatient facility in the Washington D.C. area. We don’t get any of that.
When Sen. Joni Ernst tells us that we’re all going to die, she means that she won’t die until she’s ninety or so, while it’s OK for the rest of us suckers and losers to die in childbirth, from a congenital disease or the measles as a child, a freak accident in our twenties, or a sudden heart attack in our forties. That’s ok, life’s just a roll of the dice unless you’re rich or in Congress (or both, as if often the case).
Other elected officials tell us that we have to “justify ouselves” in order to get health insurance. or “it’s up to us” to keep our Medicaid health insurance. A few years ago, before I reached retirement age, one piece of advice was incredibly cruel, that senior citizens are “a waste of food.” During COVID some politicians wanted seniors to just die because we were going to anyway. They called it ‘herd immunity” and of course seniors and poor folk, first to go, what a shame Grandma’s gone.
Some of our evengelical brethren will do anything to bring a fetus into the world, then don’t give a hoot if a home, food, or healthcare await to enable the resulting baby to survive in the world. What kind of Christianity is that? This so-called beautiful bill wants to reward mothers for having children but its authors have no idea of what it costs for a normal hospital birth, much less a caesarean or birth under less than ideal conditions such as a preemie. Forget the costs of car seats, strollers, food, clothing and, gulp, college.
But Congress and the president aren’t cutting health care for anyone in this beautiful bill, correct? They’re just going to flood Medicaid recipients with enough complicated forms that no normal person could possibly fill out and keep to new, unreasonable deadlines. Then it’s our fault if we get kicked off and miraculously save the government $900 million. No blame here but for us voters.
The $500 billion that will automatically be cut from Medicare the moment this bill is signed into law? That wasn’t in the bill. It’s in the PAYGO trip wire that the bill is causing to our debt level. So Congress isn’t cutting anything, really, it’s just up to us to figure out their new byzantine system. Imagine what Stephen Miller can envision now that Elon Musk has skipped town with his wife in tow. What, he has more time on his hands and can punish all of us to make up for his pain. Think kids in cages was bad? Imagine what’s next.
Please write your Senators and Representatives about this awful bill. You can look them up by googling who’s my representative and putting in your zip code. It’s that easy. Just say why health insurance is important to you and your family. Perhaps mention that the 2017 tax cut for the rich isn’t a priority for you and reducing the deficit is, without hurting poor people’s health and keeping food stamps from hungry kids. And while you’re at it, ask them to cut the part about the federal judiciary. Judges don’t have an army, but they need to be able to penalize for non-compliance with their orders otherwise why have a judiciary at all? Please take time out from the joys of watching the Trump/Musk slug-fest and write a letter. Thanks, Dee
Cooking with Dee 