How fast can you backpedal? For example, let’s say you got yourself elected to the U.S. Senate representing Montana, based in part on non-stop criticism of the Affordable Care Act. How would you survive politically if the “repeal and replace” alternative that you championed all along turned out to be half-baked and less popular than the ACA?
If you’re a smart politician, you’d have to say something like, “We need to do better.” Or, in the words of the president, “Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.”
Actually, many Montanans know that health care is complicated. Many Montanans didn’t have health care before the ACA. Not having health insurance makes health care complicated. It makes life complicated.
My daughter was 14 when she suffered a life-threatening head injury in a car accident in Bigfork. We flew with her by air ambulance to Seattle’s Harbor View Medical Center. After a long, tense week in the ICU, she was released, thin and weak, but stable.
This was before the ACA, and now she had a pre-existing condition and was virtually uninsurable. We had to hire a lawyer to force the insurance company to honor their commitment and to secure funds to cover her lifelong health care needs. And we were lucky: She was alive and high functioning. We hadn’t lost our daughter. And yes, I’m thankful she’s now fully covered by the ACA.
The ACA has helped American families like ours, but it’s not a cure-all. My premium rose 27 percent in 2017 with a $5,000 deductible. American health care costs more than in any other developed nation. Our health care costs two-and-a-half times per person more than in most developed countries, yet we have poorer health, as indicated by lower life expectancy and more chronic conditions.
What is your situation? Would you like to see health care policy reformed so it works for all Americans? For American families like yours?
Ideological positioning has poisoned American politics. At bottom the fight over health care is about whether we take care of each other or not. Simple concept. Such a vast trench between the opposing sides.
The ACA never included the so-called “single-payer option.” We all know what that means: We Americans essentially tax ourselves and then receive health insurance paid for from our tax dollars. No “trickle down economics” here. Not an “entitlement.” Just a direct “benefit” as a result of American citizenship.
If you voted for “change” in the last election and are now disappointed, single payer would surely upset the health care apple cart. Is there any other way to strip out the profiteering and expense of the current American health care system?
Montanans have a chance to elect a new congressman on May 25. More than anything, Montana needs that office to be filled by someone who is not ideological, someone who has an open mind and believes Montanans need and deserve a health care system that’s equitable, high quality and affordable.
Think about that when you vote on May 25.