There was a time when Republicans made arguments that took facts seriously.
I wonder if they ever will again?
Here are two examples of why I ask the question.
At a hearing on the problems with the Obamacare website, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) charged the programmers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid with breaking privacy laws under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).
One of his exasperated colleagues, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), had to point out to Mr. Barton that since Obamacare eliminated pre-existing conditions from insurance applications, there are no medical questions on the application form. Further, for this very reason Obamacare doesn’t fall under HIPPA rules that protect the medical information of people moving from one policy to another.
The second example is Republican rage over people having their existing insurance policies cancelled because of Obamacare.
The President lied to the American people, Republicans charge, having assured them if they had health insurance they liked they would be able to keep it.
Here, again, are the facts.
About 15% of Americans who have insurance get it on their own. The policies are always for one year and can be terminated by the consumer or the provider yearly.
As things stand, if you have a policy with good benefits, it costs you a lot. If you have one with few benefits it costs you less, but still isn’t cheap.
Most of these polices don’t meet new guidelines under Obamacare because they deny insurance based on pre-existing conditions, drop people because of high medical expenses, offer no preventive services such as annual check-ups, and set rates arbitrarily with no accountability.
These are the policies people are losing because most insurers are doing away with them.
In their place people can now get insurance that offers better coverage at a cheaper price.
And Republicans don’t like it!
So the President lied to the American people because Obamacare doesn’t do things the Republican way – which is, make people pay more and get less.
As I said, I wonder if Republicans will ever again take facts seriously.
If they do, they will be able to take on Democrats because of genuine policy differences as they once did.
That kind of debate is what made our country strong, and could again.
