Now we have yet another campaign promise for an alternative healthcare program. *yawn* I’m still waiting on him, and the entire party for that matter, to come up with an alternative to the Affordable Care Act enacted on March 23, 2010. They have had over thirteen YEARS to formulate something and so far, the results have been less than nothing.
In fact, the bills to REPEAL the legislation with absolutely no safety net for the millions of Americans who depend on its provisions have uniformly failed. Over 90 lawsuits of various kinds in the appellate and to SCOTUS have all failed. They are batting 1.000 on the whiff rate, which any baseball manager will tell you will get you sent home in a hurry. So why haven’t the voters sent these clowns home? I’ve lost plenty in my life. I’ve learned to quit what I am doing that makes me lose. It just isn’t my idea of something fun to do.
Here’s another thing: why is it so hard for law makers on BOTH SIDES to buck the healthcare INSURANCE industry on doing universal healthcare?
Now I get the part where that industry donates heavily to campaign funds. Money talks and all that stuff. I also know that they do not pay out what is billed to them. They take in those premiums and invest them to make lots more money. Their stockholders profit handsomely from those investments and from what they do not pay out to their insureds. Oh, yes, I know how the system works, folks. You do not have to mansplain. I got this down cold. When that industry gets their hands on money, that money tends to stay right there. They love to say in their brochures that they will “take care of you just like family”. Granted, some are better than others. My point is this: there should not be any better than others. There should just be healthcare. Period.
I’m not naive about this. I worked in healthcare for 25 years and I was in management for 15 of those years. Part of management is dealing with reimbursements and the cost of doing business. I was in the clinical laboratory. I had to know, in excruciating detail, how much each component of each test cost, each action of each employee cost, and tie it all together and make sure that we got a return on investment that made it worth the expense. I knew that what we were billing out was not what we were going to be paid by anybody. I knew what the actual reimbursements would be. My costs had to come in under those reimbursements.
Every part of healthcare is like this. It’s a shell game of sorts. It’s crazy.
What do I want for Georgians? Short term (and something that could be done regardless of the stripe of the Governor or the majority in the General Assembly), is for them to actually CARE ENOUGH ABOUT THE HEALTHCARE OF RURAL GEORGIANS, BOTH BLACK AND WHITE, AND EXPAND MEDICAID. Just forget about the part that this part of the program is associated with the ACA and Obama. That was 13 years ago and it is not going anywhere in spite of what that Orange Melted Peep says. (Even Mitch McConnell has quit trying on it.) Just admit it is here to stay and do it.
Why?
#1. Medicaid money is a cash infusion to the state that is something the state does not have to do anything to get. The federal government just writes the check. MILLIONS OF DOLLARS are just waiting for the Governor to say yes, we will take it.
#2. All that money will go to primarily rural counties that NEED it to fund clinics for mothers and pediatric care. Some of it to hospitals that are in danger of closing. This will preserve JOBS.
#3. Jobs will be created in areas that desperately need them. Nurses, yes, but also clerical, housekeeping, material management, maintenance, transportation, day care, and more.
#4. People that were getting far MORE EXPENSIVE care in ERs will be able to go to a clinic for affordable care.
It is estimated that for every dollar that would come into the state, about TEN dollars would be created. How is that bad for Georgia? So why does Brian Kemp and the General Assembly keep refusing to do this? Clearly, somebody has had a body part on their shoulders that should not have been there.
Long term? We have needed Universal Healthcare for DECADES. I experienced this on a trip to Australia in 1970. It works. It has been working for every First World country around the world for DECADES. Our insurance industry needs to get its profit minded self out of the way of the needs of the citizens and help us organize this. They could be part of the solution instead of being the problem.
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P.O. Box 3816, LaGrange, GA 30241 http://www.wright4georgia.com ellen@wright4georiga.com
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