http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37953528
Throughout his campaign, President-elect (I guess we are going to have to get used to saying that) Trump said he would scrap Obamacare entirely and replace it with "something better." But, after meeting with President Obama, it comes with no surprise that he now wants to "keep some parts of it." Namely, he wants to keep the part where insurance companies cannot deny insurance based on pre-existing conditions and that children can stay under their parents' plans until the age of 26.
Like I said, this comes with no surprise, but I think there are quite a few things to take from this. The first being, is anything that Trump said he would do during his campaign really going to happen (they've already said the wall is not going to happen....makes me wonder who bought that in the first place)? Will jobs really be "brought back from China," will Muslim people be banned from entering the country, will slashing taxes really help the US economy, will he follow through with his pledge to appoint very conservative judges to the supreme court, will he really sue the media for saying negative things about him (which was free media, and worked great in his favor...so understanding why he has a problem with that is beyond me) and will he actually make America great again? It's interesting to speculate from all different angles, but personally, I hope the answers to some of those questions is yes and to some it's a no.
The second, does Trump know how the government works or how bills are passed or how laws are made, or does he believe he has authoritarian power? There is a difference between being your own company's boss and being president of nation.
Third, did Trump not know during his campaign that the two things he now says are "good parts of Obamacare" were included in the Affordable Care Act because of Obama's healthcare reform? Or maybe he will spend the first few years of his presidency learning that how little he knows about a lot of things.
And fourth, is this level of uncertainty and "hope for the best" the only reliable trait we get from the president-elect?
To put this uncertainty into perspective, my SIP is on primary care, and I never thought I would ever have to wonder what the shortage of primary care would look like if Obamacare was to be taken away. The ACA is not perfect and the road to reform is long, but getting rid of it will never be a step in the right direction. The ACA insured millions of more people. Consequently, there are now more people who can afford primary care. It was a step in the right direction because healthcare should be a public good. Additionally, ACA pushes for funding primary care residency programs through Medicare, which Trump did not list as one of the good parts. I'm not denying its flaws, but to say that, besides two clauses, the entire thing is useless is a bold statement and it makes me wonder how well he actually knows the ACA.
Sure we can hope for the best, but to sit on the hope that the President-elect's unknown alternative will be able to address healthcare issues in this country is quite depressing.
Throughout his campaign, President-elect (I guess we are going to have to get used to saying that) Trump said he would scrap Obamacare entirely and replace it with "something better." But, after meeting with President Obama, it comes with no surprise that he now wants to "keep some parts of it." Namely, he wants to keep the part where insurance companies cannot deny insurance based on pre-existing conditions and that children can stay under their parents' plans until the age of 26.
Like I said, this comes with no surprise, but I think there are quite a few things to take from this. The first being, is anything that Trump said he would do during his campaign really going to happen (they've already said the wall is not going to happen....makes me wonder who bought that in the first place)? Will jobs really be "brought back from China," will Muslim people be banned from entering the country, will slashing taxes really help the US economy, will he follow through with his pledge to appoint very conservative judges to the supreme court, will he really sue the media for saying negative things about him (which was free media, and worked great in his favor...so understanding why he has a problem with that is beyond me) and will he actually make America great again? It's interesting to speculate from all different angles, but personally, I hope the answers to some of those questions is yes and to some it's a no.
The second, does Trump know how the government works or how bills are passed or how laws are made, or does he believe he has authoritarian power? There is a difference between being your own company's boss and being president of nation.
Third, did Trump not know during his campaign that the two things he now says are "good parts of Obamacare" were included in the Affordable Care Act because of Obama's healthcare reform? Or maybe he will spend the first few years of his presidency learning that how little he knows about a lot of things.
And fourth, is this level of uncertainty and "hope for the best" the only reliable trait we get from the president-elect?
To put this uncertainty into perspective, my SIP is on primary care, and I never thought I would ever have to wonder what the shortage of primary care would look like if Obamacare was to be taken away. The ACA is not perfect and the road to reform is long, but getting rid of it will never be a step in the right direction. The ACA insured millions of more people. Consequently, there are now more people who can afford primary care. It was a step in the right direction because healthcare should be a public good. Additionally, ACA pushes for funding primary care residency programs through Medicare, which Trump did not list as one of the good parts. I'm not denying its flaws, but to say that, besides two clauses, the entire thing is useless is a bold statement and it makes me wonder how well he actually knows the ACA.
Sure we can hope for the best, but to sit on the hope that the President-elect's unknown alternative will be able to address healthcare issues in this country is quite depressing.
No comments:
Post a Comment