Friday, April 26, 2019

BIlly Long: Medicare for All will be Health Care for None

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

After passing Obamacare without one Republican vote, the Old Blue Democrats promised over and over again that if you liked your health care plan, you could keep it.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Several months after Obamacare passed, 4 million Americans were told they couldn’t keep their health care plan. 

Now, almost 10 years later, the New Green Democrat Majority is serving up a whopper that would make Paul Bunyan blush. They are now proposing a one-size-fits-all health care plan in lieu of Obamacare.

The New Green Democrat Majority recently introduced Medicare for All legislation that would scrap our current health care system and replace it with a government-run, single-payer system. 










This radical socialist policy would eliminate all private and employer-sponsored health care plans that currently cover 216 million Americans. 

This so-called health care for all plan would get rid of a number of specialized programs that cover 58 million seniors and disabled individuals, eliminate TRICARE, our current health care system for our military and their families, as well as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covers nearly 7 million children.

A recent poll revealed that 60 percent of Americans wanted nothing to do with Medicare for All once they realized how much more in taxes they would have to pay. 

If implemented, Medicare for All would cost hardworking taxpayers $32 trillion over the next decade. This would require enormous tax hikes, specifically on middle class families. 

Numerous studies have shown that even doubling the federal and corporate income taxes and tripling payroll taxes wouldn’t be enough to pay for this new health care system.

Not only would Medicare for All cost trillions of dollars, it would hinder patient’s access to care. Hospitals would lose $150 billion a year under Medicare for All. Your access to care will certainly be impeded, and several countries are proof of this. 










In 2017, the average wait time in Canada for a patient going to see a general practitioner followed by a specialist was more than 10 weeks. Some specialized doctors had wait lists up to 5 months. That’s not an issue in the U.S. 

Along with longer wait times, a Medicare for All system would mean more bureaucratic red tape for new, lifesaving drugs. Compared to the Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency approves drugs at a much slower rate, and even when approved, takes longer to get them to patients. Again, not a problem in the U.S.

As much as the New Green Democrat Majority tries to sugarcoat this massive government overreach as a win for the American people, the realities of Medicare for All are much different. I will continue to fight against this socialist plan by proposing free market solutions that work for the people rather than against. When hospitals start losing $150 Billion a year, Medicare for All will soon need to be renamed Healthcare for None.


17 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what is your plan to make sure Americans, especially the working poor, to have health care coverage. Stop whining about what dems are proposing, what are republicans proposing?

Anonymous said...

Silly Billy got elected in 2010, promising to repeal and replace Obamacare. Upon winning the House the Republicans could have simply defunded Obamacare because it was claimed by the Supreme Court to be a tax.

But for seven years they played their little games and then when Trump had both the House and Senate they wouldn't actually do anything. So they didn't.

The cheapest method to end Obamacare expenses would be to license more doctors. Let veternarians do surgery if waivers are signed. Make hospitals post a price. Make it to where the uninsured didn't have to pay more than the allowable Medicare expense. If you are ambulatory allow patients to fly overseas for treatment and allow medicines from Mexico and Canada to be imported.

Silly Billy doesn't want to fix Obamacare -- he just wants to let the insurance companies to screw the American taxpayer.

Anonymous said...

Republicans plan to sabotage Obamacare until it breaks. Then blame it all on Obama and remind people that The House and Senate won't pass anything so Obama will be a one term president!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, damn Republicans. The Affordable Healthcare Act has been such a great success and all they want to do is break it. I mean costs of healthcare has done nothing but fall since the act was passed... without any of those damn Republicans voting for it, may I add. Then on top of costs falling, I liked my doctor and I got to keep him just like everyone else did. The AHA as been nothing but a success. It was in no way designed to break under it's own weight. It has done nothing but save lives and money.

Anonymous said...

Really? I was under the impression that not only have premiums been on a steady increase since the AHCA was passed but also out of pocket expenses for patients have skyrocketed. I guess I and reality must be wrong. Damn Republicans indeed for creating this mess, you know, since none of them voted for it.

Anonymous said...

7:48 does not realize or won't admit it, but health care costs have been rising steadily at a rate of 10-12% per year when Reagan got in. No matter what, health care providers need to post their prices for all and get over it. Emergency rooms need to be able to deny help to those who go there for simple colds and not true emergency care. People need care, but it needs to be borne by everyone whether they like the idea of paying for someone else. It is called sharing expenses. The young are healthy and should be paying something into the pot for when they get old and need more health care. It is a difficult and complex situation that has been mucked up for decades by our legislators and the providers. Fixing it means total dismantlement and starting over from scratch with a simple system of fixing prices based on locales and earnings of the recipient. What a mess.

Anonymous said...

Why all the finger pointing? How bout some solutions? There are plenty of Americans, the working poor, who need affordable health care. People who are not looking for a hand out, but working people who wouldn’t have health care coverage, correction, didn’t have health care coverage until Obamacare forced employer coverage or government subsidy to premiums. I would say those opposed to Obamacare have coverage through their employer or are on Medicare.

Anonymous said...

Great moments in Republican healthcare reform proposals: Bring a chicken and start bartering with the doctor!

"You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I'll paint your house.... In the old days that's what people would do to get health care with their doctors. Doctors are very sympathetic people. I'm not backing down from that system."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_1U4r8mWXY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZezfjWox5s

Anonymous said...

6:29
That sounds good, however, this is 2019. You’re talking about a system that worked in 1919. You’re talking about a time people didn’t live well into their 89’s, even 90’s.
The advances in healthcare make the comparison like apples and oranges.

Anonymous said...

This is 6:29 here, and if you @7:18 think I'm advocating for that anything resembling that quote- you are wrong.

I posted that quote to illustrate just what stupid things republicans frequently say about healthcare and their attempts to 'reform' it. Just to be clear, this little gem of delusion:

"You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I'll paint your house.... In the old days that's what people would do to get health care with their doctors. Doctors are very sympathetic people. I'm not backing down from that system."

was uttered by Sue Lowden who was the Republican front runner in 2010 to win the Republican primary to challenge incumbent Harry Reid for his US Senate seat from Nevada. Ms Lowden's healthcare reform stupidity and subsequent denials that she had said what she was on video saying probably contributed to her defeat by the equally excreable Sharron Angle.

Just to be clear about Sue Lowden's Republican't credentials, wiki says the following:

"Suzanne "Sue" Pluskoski Lowden (/ˈloʊdən/; born February 8, 1952)[2][3] is the former Chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party and a former state senator in Nevada. Lowden is a former businesswoman, television news anchor and kindergarten teacher. Lowden was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2010 United States Senate election in Nevada and the 2014 Nevada Lt. Governor election.

A native of National Park, New Jersey raised by a single mother,[4] Lowden is a graduate of American University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. She served as a state senator for Nevada from 1993 to 1997. During her four years in the state legislature, she held the senior leadership position of majority whip. "

Anonymous said...

Healthcare is a disaster. Obamacare was put in place to break the system not fix it. Democrats lied about its purpose and Republicans have lied about fixing it. In the end the same thing happens, the middle class is punished on both sides and we keep arguing amongst ourselves. Neither the Democrats or Republicans have our best interests in mind.

Where is Bungalow Bill when we need him said...

I'm looking at Congressman Long's face at the top of this post and I'm wondering when the last time he was getting fully fed up in Las Vegas. He looks a might peaked, but I'll really get worried if he starts to show that orange hue that Deranged Donald shows.

Anonymous said...

Let us think about some of the causes for out of control health care costs. First of all, nobody becomes a Doctor without amassing a huge amount of debt. Then those folks do not practice medicine without a huge amount of malpractice insurance. Then we have the hospitals which have to make a massive investment in technology which was not required in the past. Then we have an aging population which does not recognize that aches and pains are a part of the aging process. Now, what do we do about that? Well to start with, we could do what any number of other countries do, namely provide a free education to any doctor who provides his services to the government for five years after graduation. Then we put a cap on the malpractice suits to bring down the cost of that insurance. Then we set up medical boards to review medical services required for any patient over the age of seventy-five. It is totally out of line to incur massive costs for procedures which extend life for less than two years. We probably also need to deny services to those whose own behavior have contributed to major medical costs, such as massive obesity. In short, it is time to view medicine like we view any other service, with a cost analysis of the procedure versus the prognosis for length of life, and quality of life, extension. In short, it is time for the death panels.

Anonymous said...

The point of 7:48's comment was to point out that we were all told that the Affordable Healthcare Act would stop the increases. It didn't. In fact, it sped them up. Sure, at least the Democrats did something, right? Now let's all admit it was a failure.

Anonymous said...

This is true. I do find it funny though that people on the left blame Republicans for not fixing what Democrats broke when Republicans had nothing to do with the "fix".

Anonymous said...

I do find it annoying though that people on the right blame Democrats for not fixing what Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan's Republicant's broke when Republicans had nothing to do with the making the health care system better, and were only worried about making Barack Obama a one term president.

The last constructive attempt at healthcare reform by the Republicant's was that time when Mitt Romney invented what much later became Obamacare. Mitt Romney did this with widespread Republican't support but that's been memory holed just like that time Ollie North sold weapons to Iran and then diverted the proceeds to circumvent the will of congress.

I'd say more but I need to go see how that NRA circular firefight is going today. I hear it's grifter against conman with a few squads of lawyers providing fire support and smoke screens! That and Ollie is one of the guys out just like Billy Long trying to steal home in a softball game!


Anonymous said...

9:23, I am sure that your post makes some sense in the meth induced stupor that you are in. By the by, I thought people on the left only talked about softball games when they were loading up their rifles to snipe Republicans.