Last night on All In with Chris Hayes, an Ohio legislator put it on the line about his objection to expanding Medicaid in his state. In so many words, he worried that poor people who might qualify might then refrain from trying to make more money so that they can remain on Medicaid.
There was no point, throughout the interview, in which Representative Lynch expressed any concern about poor people with severe medical problems nor did he seem to realize that people who rise a little above the income standards for Medicaid will quite likely, under the ACA, qualify for federal assistance to buy their own insurance, which will not now have a pre-existing condition clause. At least he didn't mention freedom.
Because, according to many of those in the loyal opposition, healthcare for all will destroy freedom. Poppycock.
Representative Lynch had it right. What they object to is ... healthcare for all. But they couch that objection in statements like these:
The Stamp Act was a direct tax imposed on the colonies by King George III. This act inevitably led to the American Revolution. Just as the Stamp Act did in 1765, Obamacare should act as a wake-up call.
Rand Paul
Poppycock! People are not stamps, Mr. Paul.
Through pro-growth policies, by abolishing Obamacare and eliminating other Obama-imposed impediments to economic growth, we will get our economy back on track.
Mitt Romney
Poppycock! There is no proof of this. You provide no cogent argument for your position. You just string words together - Obamacare, impediments, economic growth - and assume people will buy what you're selling. They didn't.
The biggest, coldest power play of all with Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly. Even with all of the new taxes to pay for the the government takeover, the government still didn't have enough money. They needed more. They needed hundreds of billions of dollars more. So they simply took it out of Medicare. $750,000,000,000 taken out of Medicare to pay for Obamacare.
Paul Ryan
Poppycock! No money at all is taken from Medicare trust funds. That money is not money taken. It is money saved by eliminating fraud, waste and overpayments. You're the Ayn Rand fan, Paul. You're the one who got past the train wreck scene without a hitch in your giddyup.
If I had been under ObamaCare, and a beaurocrat had been trying to tell me when I could get that CT scan, that would have delayed my treatment. I was able to get the treatment as fast as I could based upon my timetable, and not the government's timetable. That's what saved my life.
What I want to do is to make sure that we fully repeal Obamacare. This will be one of the largest spending initiatives we will ever see in our country. And also, it will take away choice from the American people.
I think the first and principle objective is to repeal Obamacare before it does lasting, fundamental damage to our health care system, to our individual liberty, to the relationship each of us has with his or her doctor.
Ted Cruz
Poppycock! Poppycock! Poppycock!
You were able to get your care, Mr. Cain, because you have money and insurance. What American people are you talking about, Ms. Bachmann? Is there no one in your district who can't afford insurance of any kind? Who have no pre-existing conditions? Who have no choice at all in when, where, and how they receive any care they might need? Your Choice=No Choice philosophy is almost brilliantly Orwellian. And that's the first and last time I will use the word "brilliant" in connection with your name. And Teddy-boy. Would you care to spell out the precise scenarios in which fundamental damage to our healthcare system or the relationship with my doctor occurs? Do any of them involve cardboard cutouts of Uncle Sam? Individual liberty? Oh, the mandate. Right. Well, you see, Teddy. Right now individuals have lots of liberty not to buy insurance. Right now our national health insurance program is that we all pitch in a little more so that folks can go to the emergency room.
There may be, for all I know, numerous glitches and hiccups in the 1,000+ pages of the ACA, any number of which could be legitimately seized upon by the loyal opposition for comment. Hell, they might even have been able to actually improve it and thus been able to take credit for bringing the United States into the 21st Century in a more efficient and effective way than the one those bungling Democrats came up with.
Instead, they have chosen to demonize it, for no discernible reason than to discredit the man who adopted their own ideas in order to provide our people with benefits the rest of the civilized world recognizes as necessary to the well-being of their people as a whole and, therefore, necessary to continued peace and prosperity.
I can't think why the loyal opposition doesn't seem to know that a huge population of poor, sick people is a drag on the health and well-being of the nation as a whole. The thing is, I think they do know it. Most of them, anyway. What they know even better is that following the double-whammy of an economic meltdown and the inexplicable election of a black man to the presidency - twice now - is a gravy train pulled by powerless, fearful people that they can ride until something better comes along. And all they have to do to take that ride is continue to serve them with poppycock!