Healthcare Game Day

It's nearly game day for Trumpcare vs Obamacare. Fifty, mostly white, male, and rich, Senators will take to the chamber floor and vote on what the future of healthcare will be like for the rest of us. Bear in mind, the rest of us largely enjoy a lifestyle with economic realities vastly different from those of the privileged members of the Senate. Also bear in mind that there isn't a single poll showing majority support for the the AHCA; some show the bill the least popular of any in the last three decades. None the less, the GOP majority in the Senate is pushing forward with any and all tactics necessary to line up the votes necessary to strip healthcare from 22 million Americans and deliver their promised tax cut to the rich.

Credit Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell for bowling sized cojones when it comes to driving this legislation forward regardless of the negative impact to the people that voted to put Trump and a Republican congress in office. It might be hard to come up with an example of elected officials giving the middle finger to such a vast constituency since the Confederate Congress existed. Although current Republican rhetoric on class, race and gender from the President on down would play well in 1860 Atlanta but that's a different story.

It's unfathomable the country is having a conversation about taking healthcare away from its own people but Republicans are now trying to reap what they've sown after pushing eight years of fake news about Obamacare. During the entire Obama presidency, Republicans rallied against Obamacare as a menace that strips people of money, freedoms and, most famously, creates death panels. Their baseless partisan rhetoric took on a life of its own comically (and sadly) confusing some GOP supporters to publicly decry Obamacare while at the same time expressing support for the Affordable Care Act.

Fortunately, many were eventually able to see past the lies and now some GOP congressional members seem genuinely taken aback their constituents figured out the truth. Those representatives are now stuck in a position where they may need to vote against the populous in order to satisfy their rich donors expecting a tax cut as part of the AHCA deal. To close the deal, McConnell and company are wheeling and dealing special interest amendments that make the bill vastly worse than it started which is no small feat.

The most inhumane add-on to the ACHA is the Cruz amendment named after Texas Republican and anti-Robin Hood supervillan Ted Cruz. He's managed to concoct a take from the poor and give to the rich scenario where individuals can hand over their cash to insurance companies for junk insurance plans. It's a GOP idealogical (and pathological) masterpiece. When people on those plans get sick and realize their coverage is worthless, they cannot switch to a full coverage plan for six months, assuming they live that long.

The ACHA is now so bad Senators have exempted themselves from having to live by the draconian rules they've setup for everyone else. The law mandates that members of Congress have access to essential health benefits which is exactly what Obamacare mandates for everyone else today.

For his part, the President has contributed nothing but noise. Donald Trump has demonstrated zero knowledge of the details around either Obamacare or the bill nicknamed after him that is designated to replace it. He is merely a buffoon with a bullhorn squandering an opportunity to actually set a cornerstone that would make America great.

Cue the announcer, "Yes folks, it's game day: Obamacare vs Trumpcare. This game is very much do or die for the home team - your home. And now taking the field on your behalf, the Republican Party."