Are you worried about losing your health coverage if Republicans follow through on their promise to repeal Obamacare? Yeah, well, Barack Obama is worried, too. The President headed to Capitol Hill this to meet with House and Senate Democrats to try and figure out how to save his signature policy initiative from GOP threats to dismantle it.
To catch you up, pretty much every Republican in America spent all of 2016 promising to repeal and replace Obamacare. They will tell you allllllllll day long how horrible the law is and how expensive it is and how nobody likes it. Only people really do like parts of the law like the insurance marketplaces for individuals to shop for insurance; subsidies to help lower-income individuals and families buy insurance; and the option for states to expand Medicaid to cover more people. They also really like not being rejected for insurance coverage because of pre-existing health conditions and kids being able to stay on their parents insurance until they’re 26 years old.
Oh, and people don’t always realize this but Obamacare insurance plans meet a higher standard of coverage than many plans that insurance companies offered before 2010. They end up costing more but they’re also a more robust product. You can read all about it at the Obamacare Facts website.
Annnnyyyywaaay.
Republicans in Congress, with the approval of the incoming Trump administration really want to repeal the law. VP-elect Mike Pence was meeting with Republican leadership this week to cheer them on. They say they also want to replace the law but they don’t want to do that part yet. They want to do it in, like, 2019. They say that’s so they can write a really good law but I think it’s because they don’t want 20 million people to lose their insurance right before the mid-term elections.
That’s why Obama headed to the Hill. He and the Democratic caucuses met to talk about strategy for opposing GOP efforts to dismantle the law without a plan for keeping people insured. Reportedly, Obama told Democrats to stand firm and not to assist the GOP in crafting a replacement, which Obama wants to christen “Trumpcare” (a moniker that sounds about as appetizing as Trump Steaks and as substantive as Trump University).He warned Democrats not to let Republicans “Make America Sick Again”.
In other words, he basically told them that this is the GOP’s ugly baby and it’s up to them to take care of it. Not up to Democrats.
This is where we come in. We have to tell our Members of Congress and Senators why we rely on Obamacare. They do not know how we feel unless we tell them. Call or write to them as soon as possible. Even if they’re Republican. Hell, especially if they’re Republican. They’re the ones who need their phone lines flooded with people demanding that their access to health insurance be uninterrupted. Be your own advocate.
You can find your Senators at www.senate.gov and your Representative at www.house.gov. I’ve already called mine. Now it’s your turn. Let’s do this.
