Government looking to discourage or encourage policy with money--not a new trick, but used with new furor under President Obama's terms of office as his administration bludgeoned the population into compliance with its partnership with insurance companies.
For the years of Obamacare, like Obamacare itself, it was right before our eyes but we allowed it to take a foothold in America like never before as the government has become a tool in deciding whose life matters when it comes to health care. Sadly, we should not be surprised that an equivalent government ideologue, Paul Ryan, the Republican counterpart to Obama intends to do the same with Americans' health, and it's equally dangerous and abhorrent.
In spite of the President's false claims to the contrary, we know that the US has no right to either healthcare or to health insurance. What is less agreed upon is whether the President's interference has moved us forward or backwards to a more primitive time in our nation's history when those with certain ailments were isolated and allowed to die because of ignorance. I believe it's the latter. For consumers worried about the defunding of Planned Parenthood or about the direction of our morality-based healthcare where some are more worthy of access than others, we should've spoken up sooner rather than later, but should definitely speak up now.
Defunding, or reducing funding as opposed to FUNDING and providing government money is ALWAYS a back-door means of government moralizing. But for those worried about Planned Parenthood, especially Democrats, their tolerance of the brutal Obama morality makes their outrage at Planned Parenthood Defunding not only a little strange, but hypocritical to the point of lunacy in the wake of their relentless and often untruthful defense of the grotesque culling of the American people through Obamacare.
Defunding Planned Parenthood is a back-door, mealy mouthed effort to destroy the legal right to have an abortion by attaching a price-tag to it that many won't be able to pay. For those back-door moralists like Paul Ryan, the fact that reducing the number of abortions by defunding Planned Parenthood primarily affects the poor, since only one-third of the abortions in this nation are performed by Planned Parenthood, doesn't seem to bother him. But if President Trump goes along with it well, that's going to be a problem for the expanded voter base Trump was able to connect with through more moderate promises.
But, it's really Democrats who have encouraged the "morality-driven" policies in healthcare today which are epitomized by Obamacare. It doesn't take much to determine what Obama valued, after his primary concern, his own election and position, and it's as ugly as Obama's equally self-promoting, equally partisan, equally out-of-touch public employee counterpart, Paul Ryan's moralizing strategy.
Where were Democrats when Obamacare's provisions trampled our country's prohibition against age discrimination? After all, AGE is one of only two criteria that the Affordable Care Act allows to be used as a reason for insurers to charge people more in premiums. By prohibiting charging more in premiums for other statistically significant factors such as pre-existing conditions, obesity, drug use, alcoholism, and SINGLING OUT age, Obamacare brutally delivered this President's message--Older Americans can be DEFUNDED, insurers don't have to absorb the costs of providing older Americans with the coverage every other American can get.
And, Obamacare went further with its grant of seemingly unlimited power given to HHS and its CMS branch, for the first time PAYING providers to give those who are gravely ill "counseling" that includes a discussion of whether or not the COST of a potential life-saving treatment is worth it.
And it's worse--Medicaid expansion, with an ever-increasing enrollment population of age 55 and over did NOT include a change in the law that MANDATES a state lawsuit to recover money (and repay the federal government) whereby a dead over 55-year-old's estate to repay Medicaid must be bankrupted (see Medicaid.gov).
Yet, Democrats deluded themselves into ignoring the Affordable Care Act as historic anti-age legislation by focusing on Obama's untruthful discussions of Obamacare, so naturally, the likes of Paul Ryan will hop on his Democratic counterpart's bandwagon and argue for defunding as a means of indulging his own skewed morality.
OK, so Democrats embraced ageism in Obamacare. But the moralizer in chief, Obama, wasn't done. Obama, an ex-smoker, also tackled tobacco use allowing his second and only other category besides age for increased premiums. Tobacco, obviously an unhealthy habit increases the likelihood of having to pay out on behalf of sick people, but let's face it, it's not the only one.
For insurers, those abusing drugs, both legal and illegal cost money, but drug abusers were omitted from premium increases based on the risk of such habits. For insurers, those who are obese potentially cost them money, but again, the obese group cannot be charged more in premiums than anyone else. In fact, alcoholism increases the health risks and costs to individuals, but alcoholics can't be charged more under Obamacare. And the choice to have children dramatically increases insurance cost centers, but women of childbearing age can't be charged more in premiums under Obamacare.
OK, so FUNDING and DEFUNDING (or making individuals carry more cost) tells us something about President Obama's morality: Obama is anti-smoking, BUT when it comes to DEFUNDING, Obama was not anti drinking, anti drug abuse, anti obesity, also statistically significant cost centers and therefore by selecting only tobacco use for DEFUNDING (in other words making us pay more for such coverage), Obama was MORALIZING.
OK, so Obama is anti-older Americans as evidenced in Obamacare and is anti-smoking as evidenced in Obamacare. What else did Obama do? Well, our President's policies in Obamacare are also anti-male.
Under Obamacare's "requirements" of essential health benefits, females MUST be provided with an annual physical by insurance companies--Not so for males. Females MUST be provided with "free" sterilization, not males. Females MUST be provided with "free" domestic violence counseling--not so for males. So SEXISM is legitimate under Obamacare.
And so the Democrats lost the 2016 election and seem surprised that Paul Ryan, who like Obama is a government guy, protecting his own public benefits off taxpayers' backs, who's ensconced in the pseudo-world of government rather than the real world and is an ideological belligerent as Obama is, now is using Obama's strategy to fund his morality and Paul Ryan doesn't believe in abortion.
Like Obama, who didn't legitimately or legally change discrimination laws protecting people from gender or age-based discrimination but instead simply chose to single those two areas out for discriminatory treatment through increased premiums while protecting every other class of "risk" under Obamacare, thereby back-dooring discriminatory policies, Paul Ryan wants to do the same with Planned Parenthood.
Utilizing Obama's same strategy, not legitimately or legally changing our abortion law in this nation, much as national discrimination categories of age and gender remain the same post-Obama, but instead using money and government coffers as his "checkbook" to endorse or criticize national policy where Obama regally CHOSE to write a check to cover female superior healthcare, regally chose to write a check to cover all substance abuse except tobacco, regally chose to write a check to cover all people except older Americans, Paul Ryan is attempting to DEFUND or MAKE IT COST MORE for individuals to exercise their right to obtain an abortion.
This is what the Obama years created--the use of the executive branch and its policies to allow a President to direct the morality of the country's health policy. For Obama, tobacco users are bad, older people are bad, and males are bad--that's what policies that single out individuals who fall into those categories for higher prices means and drug users, obese people, alcoholics and all the other cost centers of healthcare aren't "bad."
Similarly, for Obama, those who need expensive drugs are bad, and those who are poor are bad since they are not enveloped in Obamacare protections and in the case of poorer Americans are in fact singled out for EXEMPTION from inclusion, which means EXCLUSION.
Make no mistake, Obamacare leaves those in the most dangerous of circumstances--the homeless, those who have been evicted, those who are victims of domestic violence (even though we all have to pay for free domestic violence counseling for women) EXEMPT, EXCLUDED from Obamacare's "protections" by EXCLUDING them from the buy health insurance or pay a fine network the Administration devised.
And now Democrats have lost and we're at the mercy of another ideologue who intends to use the government checkbook as his pulpit--Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan believes women who want to exercise their legal right to an abortion are bad, therefore, he wants to DEFUND Planned Parenthood and make it so that only RICH women can obtain abortions, which are two-thirds of the abortions which are NOT performed by Planned Parenthood today.
It's Ryan's version of Obamacare--Use the government coffers as their personal checkbook to support or withdraw support from citizens. Pick and choose which lives matter by EXCLUDING people from healthcare by their ability to pay.
For older people and for males, for tobacco users, for non-public employees, for the poorest Americans, it's been tough under Obama's reign, as it's been for those who fell through the cracks of the family glitch or those too poor to qualify for Obamacare's income requirements, or for those who are ineligible for Medicaid. Under Paul Ryan's similar morality-driven policies for some women who need access to Planned Parenthood to exercise their right to an abortion as well as other health services offered by Planned Parenthood it's going to be tough if Paul Ryan is as successful as his ideological counterpart, Obama.
For consumers it's crucial that we get off the morality-driven bandwagon of partisan politics and first insist that any national law first be applied to public employees without the Obama loophole of allowing superior benefits for public employees by calling the government that we FUND their "employer" that is free to offer them superior benefits even as we live under the hammer of them cutting what citizens can obtain for health and survival. That's first.
Second, for consumers, use the experience of being on the losing side of partisan morality to discourage moralizing health legislation. If you don't believe the government should decide through funding whether a woman can obtain an abortion then you shouldn't support that the government can decide whether someone who uses tobacco or is male or is older or is poorer should be deprived of equal healthcare opportunities through funding either.
Healthcare POLICY is where consumers can have influence. Obamacare embraced the worst of policy for consumers through its partnership with insurers to save on how much is paid to cover needed healthcare services for any citizen in the country, whether we like them or their habits or not. The most important thing to remember is the WE ARE THE PAYERS, whether through taxes or through premiums. Without OUR DOLLARS, the government and insurance company "payers" would have nothing to pay with.
Our healthcare policy has tolerated a grotesque and uneven application under Obama and Obamacare and Paul Ryan will duplicate the problems UNLESS consumer citizens agree on a POLICY, one that includes the variety of human beings, rich and poor, public employee, private sector employee or unemployed without CHOOSING which lives matter based on partisan platforms.
