‘Simply Put, if There’s a Chance You Might Get Sick, Get Old, or Start a Family – This Bill Will Do You Harm’
Former President Barack Obama made a rare public entry into the national conversation Thursday afternoon, weighing in on – and against – the Republican health care bill. President Obama has taken special care to not give the appearance of undermining his successor’s presidency, ignoring most of the near-daily attacks from President Donald Trump and the Trump administration of Obama-era policies and accomplishments.
But Obama also made clear that he would speak out when our democracy needed his voice the most, which should underscore his very public remarks on the GOP’s health care bill via a lengthy 949 word Facebook post.
While calling for “compromise between Democrats and Republicans,” the former president’s thoughts can be summed up in this excerpt from his post:
“Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family – this bill will do you harm. And small tweaks over the course of the next couple weeks, under the guise of making these bills easier to stomach, cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.”
Obama made clear that the Senate Republicans’ health care bill “is not a health care bill. It’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America.”
But he also made clear that the bill affects all Americans, not just those who get insurance via the ObamaCare exchanges or Medicaid.
“It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else. Those with private insurance will experience higher premiums and higher deductibles, with lower tax credits to help working families cover the costs, even as their plans might no longer cover pregnancy, mental health care, or expensive prescriptions. Discrimination based on pre-existing conditions could become the norm again.”
“Millions of families will lose coverage entirely,” he said.
“I hope our Senators ask themselves,” Obama continued, “what will happen to the Americans grappling with opioid addiction who suddenly lose their coverage? What will happen to pregnant mothers, children with disabilities, poor adults and seniors who need long-term care once they can no longer count on Medicaid? What will happen if you have a medical emergency when insurance companies are once again allowed to exclude the benefits you need, send you unlimited bills, or set unaffordable deductibles? What impossible choices will working parents be forced to make if their child’s cancer treatment costs them more than their life savings?”
Posted to Facebook just one hour ago, it has already gone viral, being shared over 40,000 times receiving nearly 6000 comments and 145,000 likes.
And not that anyone’s counting, but Barack Obama has more than twice as many “likes” and followers on Facebook than Donald Trump.
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Image by Public.Resource.Org via Flickr and a CC license