ACA--and a bit of farm wisdom
There’s an old, likely apocryphal piece of farm wisdom that says turkeys are so dumb they must be ‘stirred’ when it rains, or they’ll drown. This is probably not true; turkeys are pretty dense, but drowning in the rain? The idea defies evolutionary sense if nothing else. Yesterday’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act has stirred the turkeys, those conservatives who are standing in the rain, watching a torrent of medical bills, (which aren’t a tax increase, of course) a shower of drug costs, and a virtual deluge of uncertainty about health care, and they’re drowning, with no policy to address it. Here’s the typical response to the Roberts Court’s landmark decision.
George Will, the conservatives’ conservative: “It (the ACA) instead compels individuals to become active in commerce by purchasing a product, on the ground that their failure to do so affects interstate commerce.” Well, we sure don’t want to compel anyone to take responsibility for themselves, George.
Next we hear from Charles Krauthammer, right-wing ideologue masquerading as intellectual: “Mr. Jones is not a purchaser of health insurance. Mr. Jones has therefore manifestly not entered into any commerce. Yet Congress tells him he must buy health insurance...” Ye gods, Congress said that? Holy health care Batman, next they’ll make us buy, I don’t know, broccoli! It’s healthy for us! You gotta eat broccoli!
Next comes Douglas Holtz-Eakin who was on ‘W’s council of economic advisors “...the policy behind the law still fails to meet these goals, creating instead a massive tax increase, burdensome regulatory web and a legacy of debt for future generations.” Medical disasters are not “a legacy of debt for future generations” of course. Thank you Mr. Holtz-Eakin. I see why W liked you so much.
No discussion of pandering, unsupported, ineffectual and clueless conservative responses would be complete without a word from our presumptive Republican nominee for President. Here’s Mint Romney, calling the ACA, (modeled on his very own health care plan for Massachusetts), “a job killer that inserted the government between patients and their doctors.” He finished with this: “What the court did not do on its last day in session, I will do on my first day as president of the United States,” Mr. Romney said all this in a rare appearance on Capitol Hill shortly after the ruling. Let’s hope his appearances on Capitol Hill are even more rare in the future.
What point do all these conservatives conveniently miss? Two or three signs that it might be pouring rain. One is that, we are all, every gobbling one of us, inextricably involved in commerce with the health care industry in America. We can’t escape it, and when we do interact with it, someone must pay the freight. “Don’t get sick” is not a strategy. And we’re not a country that kicks people off the bus when they do get sick, so it ain’t a question of compelling, it’s simply recognition that we’re all involved already, sorry George.
Krauthammer hardly rates a response. Same deal, Charles. Mr. Jones may not be a “...purchaser of health insurance...” as you put it, but he has indeed “...entered into commerce...” by virtue of the fact that he will be a consumer of health care at some point, and again, somebody’s gotta pay the freight. Would you and your fellow conservatives like to pick up the tab for Mr. Jones, Charles? Awfully nice of you. Thanks. I’ll think of you next time I buy broccoli.
Holtz-Eakin--a burden for future generations, hey? And your plan to address the deluge of health care uncertainty is..? Let’s hear it Mr. H-E. Any time. We’re waiting. Don’t get sick? Good plan.
Mint Romney. Gotta love the guy. He reminds me of Mr. Haney on Green Acres who has a slick answer to every new farm problem.
No one is compelling anyone to buy health care insurance, eat broccoli, or anything else unless they figure out how they can take themselves out of the system. No one lacks health care in America; many lack health insurance, and the rest of us pay their premiums. Without the ACA we have what is commonly referred to, by our conservative friends, as socialism. The ACA forces people to take responsibility for themselves and their health. This is a good thing. It’s raining, folks. Pretty hard. Stir things up, or we’ll all drown together.
George Will, the conservatives’ conservative: “It (the ACA) instead compels individuals to become active in commerce by purchasing a product, on the ground that their failure to do so affects interstate commerce.” Well, we sure don’t want to compel anyone to take responsibility for themselves, George.
Next we hear from Charles Krauthammer, right-wing ideologue masquerading as intellectual: “Mr. Jones is not a purchaser of health insurance. Mr. Jones has therefore manifestly not entered into any commerce. Yet Congress tells him he must buy health insurance...” Ye gods, Congress said that? Holy health care Batman, next they’ll make us buy, I don’t know, broccoli! It’s healthy for us! You gotta eat broccoli!
Next comes Douglas Holtz-Eakin who was on ‘W’s council of economic advisors “...the policy behind the law still fails to meet these goals, creating instead a massive tax increase, burdensome regulatory web and a legacy of debt for future generations.” Medical disasters are not “a legacy of debt for future generations” of course. Thank you Mr. Holtz-Eakin. I see why W liked you so much.
No discussion of pandering, unsupported, ineffectual and clueless conservative responses would be complete without a word from our presumptive Republican nominee for President. Here’s Mint Romney, calling the ACA, (modeled on his very own health care plan for Massachusetts), “a job killer that inserted the government between patients and their doctors.” He finished with this: “What the court did not do on its last day in session, I will do on my first day as president of the United States,” Mr. Romney said all this in a rare appearance on Capitol Hill shortly after the ruling. Let’s hope his appearances on Capitol Hill are even more rare in the future.
What point do all these conservatives conveniently miss? Two or three signs that it might be pouring rain. One is that, we are all, every gobbling one of us, inextricably involved in commerce with the health care industry in America. We can’t escape it, and when we do interact with it, someone must pay the freight. “Don’t get sick” is not a strategy. And we’re not a country that kicks people off the bus when they do get sick, so it ain’t a question of compelling, it’s simply recognition that we’re all involved already, sorry George.
Krauthammer hardly rates a response. Same deal, Charles. Mr. Jones may not be a “...purchaser of health insurance...” as you put it, but he has indeed “...entered into commerce...” by virtue of the fact that he will be a consumer of health care at some point, and again, somebody’s gotta pay the freight. Would you and your fellow conservatives like to pick up the tab for Mr. Jones, Charles? Awfully nice of you. Thanks. I’ll think of you next time I buy broccoli.
Holtz-Eakin--a burden for future generations, hey? And your plan to address the deluge of health care uncertainty is..? Let’s hear it Mr. H-E. Any time. We’re waiting. Don’t get sick? Good plan.
Mint Romney. Gotta love the guy. He reminds me of Mr. Haney on Green Acres who has a slick answer to every new farm problem.
No one is compelling anyone to buy health care insurance, eat broccoli, or anything else unless they figure out how they can take themselves out of the system. No one lacks health care in America; many lack health insurance, and the rest of us pay their premiums. Without the ACA we have what is commonly referred to, by our conservative friends, as socialism. The ACA forces people to take responsibility for themselves and their health. This is a good thing. It’s raining, folks. Pretty hard. Stir things up, or we’ll all drown together.
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