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By Ian Schwartz
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I strongly oppose Graham-Cassidy. Like so many of the other Republican bills, it is another attempt to abolish government legislated health-care that is comprehensive and affordable, and not one that raises cost, reduces coverage, or one that doesn’t provide protections for Seniors, people with pre-existing conditions, and certainly not one that would make health-care almost unattainable for those who don’t have the wherewithal to pay for it. While the United States needs to take the profit out of health-care, Republicans want to give health-care back to the for-profit insurance providers as it was prior to ACA. A Medicare-for-all single-payer system will give health-care decisions to the people and take the profit out.
Former President Barack Obama spoke today about the Republicans push to repeal the Affordable Care Act. At an event for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Wednesday, in part he said:
"For the first time more than 90% of Americans know the security of health insurance. Paying more for insurance or being denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition or because you are a woman, that is not a thing anymore, we got rid of that. And people are alive today because of it and that is progress.
“Now, the legislation that we passed was full of things that still need to be fixed. It wasn't perfect. It was better.
“And so when I see people trying to undo that hard won progress for the 50th or 60th time with bills that would raise cost or reduce coverage or rollback protections for older Americans or people with pre-existing conditions, the cancer survivor, the expectant mom or the child with autism or asthma, for whom coverage once again would be almost unattainable, it is aggravating. And all of this being done without demonstrable or actuarial or plain common sense rational, it frustrates and it is certainly frustrating to have to mobilize every couple months to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering on our constituents."
