That is my point brother Carl. Literally now and before this day me and my
brothers and sisters in ADAPT and other groups are laying lives and
liberties on the line in protests and direct actions.
No offense to anyone here, but even those of us in extreme conditions such
as I am are working and not just jaw boning for and about these issues.
Moreover, the State of Michigan has fought against my rightious lawsuit and
literally has spent tense of thousands of dollars to fight against me and my
sisters and brothers.
Sorry I am pissy today as I take care of my dad with no money really and no
supports and all the while the state apparatchek here fuck with me and us.
Goes to the corrupt corporate state, a corrupt state which by the way kills
people through malfeasance here in Flint!
This stuff is all too real to me.
It isn't theoretical, or all that sort of thing. It is real. The corporate
state is killing people I know and know of and all around me.
I don't know even why I'm responding to this and othr posts.
Sorry again I'm really "pissy" this a.m. And tomorrow is the 27th
anniversary of our dream under the American with Disabilities Act which has
become a farce, even to some degree on this list as some don't know the
precepts of the thing.
The precepts are: freedom, choice, integration and at a minimum; protections
against outright, documented discrimination. Yet, I a now elderly mman who
is blind was denied access to the anniversary two years ago of my very civil
rights law and then arrested and persecuted by state actors because I
pointed out with words and leaflets the fact that billions of dollars meant
for us were being purloined and that our fundamental human and civil rights
were violated daily by the very folks funded to support them and enforce
them.
It is "madness" Carl!
Regardless there are those of us who continue to fight the corrupted system.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2017 10:06 AM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Trump and the GOP Are Not Discussing Whether
to Let Obamacare Die. They Are Plotting to Kill It
And the only way single payer health care will become a reality is
when enough Americans say, "Enough pain and suffering is enough", and
lay claim to it. The Oligarchy will not hand over anything willingly.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/25/17, joe harcz Comcast <joeharcz@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
All the more reason for socialized health insurance, or what some call
single-payer.
Brothers and sisters are still protesting as I send this and still going to
jail for this issue.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2017 8:56 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Trump and the GOP Are Not Discussing Whether to
Let Obamacare Die. They Are Plotting to Kill It
Trump and the GOP Are Not Discussing Whether to Let Obamacare Die. They
Are
Plotting to Kill It
Monday, July 24, 2017
By Dean Baker, Truthout | Op-Ed
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (center), Sen. John Thune (right),
and Sen. John Cornyn, speak to the media July 19, 2017 at the White House
in
Washington, DC. The senators met with President Donald Trump to discuss
the
Republican healthcare bill. (Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
After their efforts to approve a replacement for the Affordable Care Act
(ACA) went down to defeat (again), the Republicans came up with a new
strategy on health care. As Donald Trump put it, they are going to "let
Obamacare fail."
The idea appears to let the health care exchanges, which are the
centerpiece
of the ACA, fall apart as more insurers leave. Then, when there are few
exchanges operating with any substantial level of competition, Trump and
the
Republicans will sail in with some version of the plans that have
collapsed
in the last five months. They will now have the compelling argument that
their replacement plan is better than nothing, since there will be little
or
nothing left of the health care exchanges.
While it is possible that this strategy could work, there is a really
important point that often gets left out of the picture: the exchanges
are
not dying. In fact, according to experts who study this issue and aren't
on
Donald Trump's payroll, the exchanges are actually doing quite well.
The assessment of the Congressional Budget Office, the Kaiser Family
Foundation and others is that the health care exchanges had largely
stabilized and insurers were now able operate profitably. In other words,
the people who don't have something to gain by lying about the health of
Obamacare say that the program is actually working. Predictably the
people
who do get paid by the White House, pronounce such assessments as "fake
news."
The basic point is a simple one. Contrary to the claims of Trump and
congressional Republicans, the exchanges are not in a death spiral,
enrollments are increasing. That is the wrong direction for the Obamacare
critics' story.
Of course many people have heard about all of the counties with little or
no
competition in their exchanges. More than 1,300 counties only have a
single
insurer in their exchanges and some don't have any.
That is indeed bad news, but the lack of competition in the exchanges is
overwhelming a problem for people who live in states controlled by
Republicans. While more than 20 percent of the people who live in states
with Republican governors only have one insurer in their exchange, this
is
the case for less than 2 percent of the people who live in states with
Democratic governors. (This figure excludes North Carolina, where a
Democratic governor just took over in January.)
Many states with Republican governors did not expand Medicaid. This
expansion helped the exchanges since it pulled out many of the less
healthy
people from the patient pools in the exchange. These governors also were
not
aggressive in promoting the exchanges. As a result fewer healthy people
signed up for insurance, making the exchange population less healthy than
in
states controlled by Democrats trying to make the ACA work.
The result is that Republicans can now happily boast about their success
in
undermining the insurance market in much of the country. Trump is
apparently
prepared to build on this success and see if he can undermine the
exchanges
even in the states controlled by Democrats. And, he does have tools to do
it.
The first tool is the reimbursements the government makes to insurers for
covering out-of-pocket costs for low income people. If insurers did not
cover these expenses, insurance would be unaffordable for many low income
people. And, the insurers won't cover the costs if the government is not
picking up the tab.
Even more importantly, Trump could refuse to enforce the individual
mandate.
This is an essential part of the system, since insurers are prohibited
from
discriminating against people based on their health. As a result, a
healthy
person could decide to go years without insurance and only start paying
premiums if they develop a serious illness. In this situation the
insurance
pool ends up being less healthy and more costly for insurers.
This is a sure path to a death spiral. In this scenario, insurers raise
rates because of their less healthy pool. The higher rates discourage
healthier people from getting insurance, further worsening the health of
the
average insure. This cycle will continue until the pool only includes the
least healthy and most expensive patients.
Through these and other mechanisms President Trump certainly is capable
of
killing Obamacare. But let's not play games here, Trump is not talking
about
letting the patient die. He is talking about murder. Trump and the
Republicans are not discussing whether they should let Obamacare die.
They
are plotting to kill it.
Enjoying what you're reading? Click here to help Truthout publish more
stories like this one.
Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.
Dean Baker
Dean Baker is a macroeconomist and codirector of the Center for Economic
and
Policy Research in Washington, DC. He previously worked as a senior
economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor at
Bucknell University. He is a regular Truthout columnist and a member of
Truthout's Board of Advisers.
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