A Trumpcare proposal
To the editor:
President Trump promised a health care replacement plan that’s “far less expensive and far better” than Obamacare. It’ll cover more people with lower deductibles, retain coverage for adult children on their parents’ policies and eliminate individual mandates while still covering pre-existing conditions. His plan will permit the purchase of out-of-state medical insurance — currently federally legal, but we can pretend it’s not. Mr. Trump says this incredible plan is nearly complete. But, as with other things he won’t show us (his taxes, his secret plan to defeat ISIS), there’s a catch. He won’t reveal his plan until the Health and Human Services nominee, the aptly named Mr. Price, endures his gauntlet of committee-hearing grandstanding and is confirmed by the Senate.
After Mr. Trump commended the New York Times for “pretty accurately” reporting on his plan, their editorial board criticized his “breathtaking ignorance about health care and the Affordable Care Act.” So, who cares what they think? He boldly promised to deliver, in months, what GOP leaders couldn’t do in a decade: Create a “terrific” replacement for Obamacare. Only the old-school, reality-based critics say Mr. Trump’s plan (if it even exists) is irrelevant because it’s not legislation. These critics are dismissed as sore-loser snowflakes who can’t appreciate the brilliance that a real businessman and his $10 billion administration brings to Washington.
Mr. Trump assures us that, even though it’s “complicated stuff,” he’s got really smart people working on this, as opposed to Obama’s presumably transgender communists and Sharia law partners. And he’s no wuss; he can certainly kick Congress into action with a motivating locker room speech.
The forceful intelligence of our new leader will inspire Congress to close ranks on a replacement plan, satisfying all mutually exclusive parameters. He’s done the heavy lifting; they simply have to draft a bill, hold House and Senate committee hearings, debate it, find eight Democratic senators willing to break a filibuster, pass bills in each chamber, negotiate any differences in conference, then pass the amended bill. Quickly, because Mr. Trump also has executive orders to cancel, a wall to build, taxes to cut, immigrants to deport, pipelines to approve, treaties to renegotiate and trade wars — perhaps shooting wars — to start.
If you are skeptical, it’s only because you can’t embrace post-factualism and the new Land of Make-Believe.
Earlier this month, Vice President Pence turned up the schedule pressure. On “day one,” the “first order of business will be to repeal and replace Obamacare.” At a bizarre press conference a week later, Mr. Trump stated that repeal and replace must be done “essentially simultaneously.” Congressional Republicans are scrambling to rise to the challenge and think outside the box. Well, I’m happy to help.
How about expanding on that idea of purchasing out-of-state health insurance? Canada is right next door. Give us the option to buy their health care plan.
The Canadian system covers everyone and everything, with no co-pays. They have better medical outcomes than we do — at half the cost. Montreal General Hospital is a two-hour drive, same as the University of Vermont Medical Center.
We can still retain that post-factual, make-believe option for the diehards — who can expect to do just that … after bankrupting their families in the process.
Frank Pagano
Upper Jay