READER’S EDITORIAL: HUNTER, AT TOWN HALL, SHOWS HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT OUR HEALTH

March 2017 Articles

By Barbara Cummings, El Cajon

March 13, 2017 (Ramona) - I attended the Duncan Hunter town hall in Ramona on SA. Imagine getting in line at 5:30 AM for a 10 AM event to have your congressional rep ridicule and berate you for 90 min. Mr Hunter chose a very small venue in territory that normally hosts Tea Party events. Nevertheless over one thousand constituents showed up.

Having a special needs grandson, I am extremely concerned about the Republican bill that Mr Hunter has touted as being far superior to the ACA. Truth be told, Mr Hunter has no idea what the new bill will do, and appallingly he has no idea of how many of his constituents are on ACA (Obamacare) now. He seems not to care that mental health care, maternity care and subsidies will be removed from his bill. Mr Hunter also stated that he does not believe health care is a right and as long as one has access(regardless if you can afford to access) then he has done his job.

AARP has sent a scathing letter to congress. The AMA and the American Pediatric Society have all said this bill will be a disaster.

I would implore those persons who are leaning in favor of this repeal to do some research. CBO, non partisan budget office stated today that 14-24 million citizens will lose t heir coverage if this legislation passes.

The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.

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Comments

I thought personal attacks were not allowed

no such thing as trumpcare and the whole piece is a personal attack

Duncan Hunter Town Hall/Trumpcare

For Tea Party types perhaps the biggest "plus" of TrumpCare is that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projected that, if enacted, it could take about $350 billion off the budget deficit. But wait! There's more! It would do that by eliminating Medicaid (sorry poor folk!) and by making premiums so high for the elderly (increases of 300%-400%) that millions won't be able to afford it, and therefore won't need the subsidies that currently help. In fact, the bill will remove enough people from coverage that the budget savings can be realized even with eliminating the taxes on the wealthy that currently fund the subsidies. So millions will find health care beyond reach and the top 1% will have the Republican Party--including our own Duncan Hunter--shoveling billions of dollars back into their pockets. And why? Because they're better than you and deserve the health and security that you do not.

It's absolutely clear now, folks, that Trumpcare is basically the Law of the Jungle. If you don't earn enough to afford insurance totally on your own then you do not deserve health care, period. Unless, that is, you're a member of Congress, in which case you and your'n get taxpayer subsidized Cadillac healthcare for life! This is the Magical Market at work; you know, that blind force that has neither conscience nor compassion. It's the kind of greedy immoral bill that, if it were a person, would spit in Jesus's face and deride him as a fool for caring about the poor, the sick, prisoners, and strangers. Yep, Republicans, something to be REALLY proud of...

Trumpcare also raises poor seniors ' rates by 750%!!

That's according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. A 64-year-old earning $24,000 a year would be expected to pay over $14,000 for health nisurance which of course they won't be able to afford after rent, food, heating, medicines, etc. so what this basically does is boot poor senior citizens off healthcare completely. That's a death sentence, criminal in my book.

Also tax credits are NOT subsidies. To get them you have to pay money up front. What good is, say, a $5,000 tax credit if you don't have money to pay the premium because your savings are depleted? What if you've lost a job, or had an expensive health problem that drained your savings? Too bad, no healthcare insurance for you.

Kids will save a little bit of money, but quality of care will be less too since preventative care won't be covered. Good chance decductibles will be more, too.

I do not like this idea that it's an okay "choice" for younger people (or anyone) to do without insurance. Our daughter, in her 20s, was thinking she might not sign up for Obamacare because she wanted to save money. We convinced her she should really have insurance, jsut in case. Thank God. She started having headaches soon after and it turned out to be a pituitary tumor at the base of her brain. Without immediate surgery she would have gone blind and might have died. Who could afford tens of thousands of dollars for emergency brain surgery without insurance?

The only people who profit off this are the richset 2% who save $2 billion in taxes, and the insurance companies who also get tax breaks . This is not healthcare. It's hell care. Or maybe just "they really don't care."