Health Care, continued: The Zombies are Desperate and Poised for a Final Attack

Just when you thought health insurance was safe for the coming year, the Zombie President and the leadership of the Senate Zombies are preparing a final desperate attack on the Affordable Care Act. The Health Care Zombies are bringing reinforcements – reluctant Republican Senators are being threatened with primary challenges by the President, his army of trolls, and financial backers. Like the final scene in the Dawn of the Dead we just have to hold them off until daylight. Fight the Zombie Repeal and/or Replace like lives depend on it. We can win. Strike a blow with your phone calls and postcards.

There appear to be a half-dozen plans that Senate Republicans are discussing, but since all the negotiations are secret and no hearing has ever been held where the problems can be discussed and debated, it is impossible for the public to know the details that Zombie Majority Leader McConnell has scheduled for a vote next week.

We have several messages for our elected officials:

  1. Real people’s lives are at stake. Along with promising to repeal the ACA, Trump and McConnell are treating the issue of repeal of the Obamacare as if the vote is some blood feud. The only thing that they are settled on accomplishing is avenging their imagined honor by passing something, anything that can be said to repeal the ACA.  This is plainly immoral and petty.  Say NO to this folly.
  2. At this time, McConnell is planning a vote to debate the Trumpcare legislation and opening it up to floor amendments. This process is random and uncontrolled and in no way bipartisan. It is a terrible way to remake health policy. We demand extensive hearings and a rational legislative process to improve the Affordable Care Act. Demand that your Senator vote NO to open debate on Trumpcare!
  3. Everyone loses under the current Senate proposals. Congressional Budget Office “scores” of the most recent Trumpcare legislation showed nearly 22 million people losing health insurance over the next decade. The repeal only option results in nearly 32 million losing insurance by 2026.  Those who might not lose coverage, the CBO says, are likely to have policies that have costs and deductibles that are so high, they might as well have no insurance.
  4. Trump claims that the Affordable Care Act is “failing” and it won’t be his fault. This is patently false. Trump and his Administration are taking aggressive action to damage the ACA. Let your representatives know that you oppose this and that you expect them to put pressure on their leadership to FIX AND SUPPORT the current protections under the ACA. Make sure your friends and neighbors know of this presidential charade.

Call To Action

Make the calls and make them again…and urge others to do so. No single blow will kill the Zombie Army but we can hold them back till dawn and end this fiasco. We’ve said it before…politics is the art of staying engaged and being persistent. We must show Trump and the Republican leadership that we are MORE persistent than they are in this struggle.  Don’t be distracted by other craziness in this administration…the battle is over Zombie Trumpcare until it is finally dead!

How will we know when the Health Care Zombies are done for? When four or more Republican Senators join with an similar number of Democrats to form a bipartisan health care reform working group. Then we can start talking about what would truly make American health care better.