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TrumpCare is an Entitlement Program to the Rich and Powerful

3/10/2017

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​While it has been mildly entertaining to watch Trump’s healthcare plan draw criticism from liberals and conservatives, that’s only a thin silver lining to the unconscionable piece of garbage that the has been named the American Health Care Act.  While conservatives have been concerned that the insurance coupons are simply more entitlement programs to the poor (which in it of itself is confusing as vouchers has been a longstanding strategy for the Republicans), the reality is that the bill is actually an entitlement program to the already rich and powerful.
 
Healthcare analysts estimate that 10-20 million Americans will lose health insurance under this plan. The populations that stand to lose the most? Low-income Americans, our elders, and women.  What’s going unsaid is that rich men, stand to gain the most.
 
The American Health Care Act touts the same fiscal bullshit that has never helped the average American: deregulation and tax cuts.  The fact is that tax cuts to the wealthy never “trickle down.” It’s so crazy that we even tout “trickle down” as a reasonable option.  Why would we think that under-resourced Americans with the cards stacked against them should get a trickle?!
 
Similarly, Medicaid block funding. Not only does Trump want to repeal the Medicaid expansion, he wants to move to block funding. That means that states will get a hunk of money without any guidance or regulation on how it must be spent.  Legislators will have free reign to redefine who qualifies for Medicaid without any accountability towards making sure that our most disenfranchised communities get coverage.  People of Color, Women, those who suffer from mental illness, these are groups that have never gotten what they deserve out of the goodwill from those in power.
 
The bottom-line is that deregulation always benefits those in power.  For those white, middle-class Americans that voted for Trump because you wanted to “drain the swamp?” This is the opposite and it’s just proving what the rest of us knew all along: Donald Trump is a rich, white man. He is the definition of the swamp. In fact, that swamp used to be a beautiful pond until people like Trump polluted it in order to build their fortunes.
 
Healthcare costs continue to be the number cause of bankruptcy.  Under the Affordable Care Act, the credit amount that citizens got towards buying insurance was based on the actual cost of insurance in their local market.  Under Trump’s new plan, everybody gets a flat rate voucher that is a pittance compared to actual premium costs.  The result? American’s can’t afford health insurance and that only exacerbates this bankruptcy problem.
 
Furthermore, the Republicans are abusing their power in the most fiscally unethical way possible. When it will benefit them to deregulate, they do. But where’s their precious deregulation when it comes to Women’s health? Republicans don’t like Planned Parenthood, so bam, like the bully on the elementary school playground, they’ve banned ALL funding to Planned Parenthood despite the fact that most Planned Parenthoods don’t even perform abortions.
 
But I won’t waste my breath citing facts. Our current administration has no regard for them and freely synthesizes “alternative facts” in the blink of an eye.  We elected a ruthless businessman to lead a corrupt military-industrial-congressional complex. It’s no surprise that the result is a healthcare plan that won’t actually improve the health of the average American.

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    My name is Jess. In the interest of full disclosure: I'm a 30-something-year-old Chinese American and believer that the quest for social justice and equity must be an intentional and active one. I'm a Family Medicine physician. I'm queer. I'm a radical. I grew up in a mostly white suburb and my parents are white-collar workers.  And I don't eat meat, but I miss it sometimes.

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