The Coming Storm
AJ Robinson

Over the course of history, in America, we always moved forward. First, we had the vote, but it was limited. By the late 1860s, slavery was gone and Black men could vote. The Nineteenth Amendment finally extended that right to women, too. During the Great Depression, we established Social Security, so the elderly wouldn’t live in abject poverty. Then there was Medicare, Medicaid and various other programmes, yet, never national healthcare, despite the fact that every other industrialised nation already has it.

ACA, a step in the right direction.

Finally, there was the Affordable Care Act. It’s not perfect. It was, at least, a step in the right direction.

Now, America is poised to do something entirely novel, that is, move backwards. The Senate is getting ready to pass the GOP version of “healthcare” reform. I use the quotes because it’s a massive tax cut for the super-rich, which reduces healthcare for millions. When it passes, the delays it has been experiencing will be overcome, we are going to have one terrible storm of trouble in the coming years.

Will the GOP bill pass?

Some people feel the GOP healthcare bill won’t pass, as several GOP senators have come out against it. That’s meaningless. Just recently, it went from five against to three, which mean they only need one more and then Pence can cast the deciding vote. It’s really quite simple, they’ll just make the bill even more cruel and inhumane than it already is, take coverage away from millions more people, and the GOP holdouts will fall into line. Yes, that’s the ironic part. The Republicans, the ones that so often claim to be good Christians, that say we’re a Christian nation, always act in the most un-Christian fashion. It amazes me how they get away with that, but they do.

The GOP will pass the bill. Trump will sign it, and that’ll be that. Now, the truly most ironic part of all this is that his supporters will endure the most pain from this law. I wondered for a while how in the world the republicans think they can get away with that, but then I figured it out. It’ll be simple. Trump will tell everyone that the law is working, that everyone is covered and Medicaid and Medicare remain intact, as is, with no cuts.

Trump followers will believe him. I have absolutely no clue as to why they are so gullible, but that’s a Trump fan. Now, the problem that’s going to pop up is that, eventually, his followers will notice how bad their healthcare has become. It’s not a stretch to imagine what will happen, then.

Voters will miss health care.

Mom will get cancer and not be able to afford treatment. A child will get some disease and they won’t be able to get them the medicine or operation they need to save their lives. There medical debt will drive them into bankruptcy.

Under normal circumstances, this is where the GOP base would get angry. Their elected officials will take the blame. Constituents might vote them out of office.

There’s no problem here. It’ll be simple. Trump will just blame the “obstructionist” Democrats for everything and once, again, his followers will believe him.

So sad, so very, very sad, I almost feel sorry for them. I use that word, almost, because, after all, they did do this to themselves.