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This is Congress's big chance

Based on a series of polls that were released last week, one thing's for certain about the Senate's proposed health care plan - the people don't much care for Trumpcare.

In a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, it showed that just 12% of Americans approve of the Senate's "Obamacare" repeal-and-replace bill. That's not a typo - just over 1 in 10 Americans like the Senate's health care plan. Meanwhile 53% believe we should either keep the Affordable Care Act as it is or make some changes while keeping its framework. In addition to that, 77% believe it's "very important" to cover people with pre-existing conditions, 63% feel similarly about providing Medicaid options to those whom are eligible, and 57% believe it's "very important" to lower premiums.

The GOP had 7 years. For 7 years, the GOP ran on the platform that they'd repeal and replace the evil "Obamacare." For 7 years, they tried defunding the ACA. For 7 years, they talked about how, if the people voted for them, they'd repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something much greater. ...and this is what they came up with? The Republican-led House initiated the process with a bill which would result in 24 million losing health insurance. Their revised version decreased that total to 23 million. This trend continued with the Senate's edition of the repeal-and-replace bill, as the CBO estimated 22 million would lose healthcare. Not only that, but while premiums would be lower under the Senate's bill, they would still be increasing (4.4% vs. 5.5% for the ACA), deductibles would be higher, and less would be covered. In other words, not only would 22 million fewer people have healthcare, the quality of insurance for the people who did have it would be downgraded. The GOP had 7 years to think up grand ideas to better our healthcare system, and when given the opportunity, all they did was turn a mediocre but filling peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich into a sh*t burger.

Having said all that, this is Congress's big chance to show the American people that the two sides can work together, that we do have a functioning government, and that they actually care about the lives they represent. Democrats need to realize the Affordable Care Act isn't perfect and needs to undergo some changes, while Republicans need to realize Obamacare isn't the failure they claim it to be and the people don't want a full repeal of the law. As sad as it is to say, this appears to all be about the altered title of the bill (especially in Republican circles) from the Affordable Care Act to Obamacare. If this bill had occurred under a Republican president, chances are the two sides could come together with seeming ease to fix its holes, improve the law, and with that, people's healthcare. Unfortunately, that's not the case, and due to that, Democrats don't want to to away with Barack Obama's signature achievement by repealing the Affordable Care Act, and Republicans don't want to fix what they promised they'd repeal, in Obamacare. Whether politicians on either side want to admit it or not, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. It's result in tens of millions of people possessing health insurance, fewer people going bankrupt because of their health costs, and fewer people dying due to not getting treated. This is what we currently have to work with, and while we by no means have the best health care system in the world due to the ACA, we're certainly better off than we were prior to its implementation, and the two sides could do a world of good if they could come together and attempt to fix the issues with the current law. They need to push to the side the fact that this law was passed under then President Barack Obama. This isn't about a person's love or hatred of the former president. This is about people's lives. This is about people's health. This is about people's well being. This is about saving money, and more importantly, saving lives. It's high time Congress earned their votes, chose country over party, and did more than just talk about caring for the constituents they represent, and actually did something about it. If they don't, the 2018 midterm elections are just around the corner...


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/28/suffolk-poll-obamacare-trump-senate-health-care-plan/103249346/

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