By Ron Hargrove [2017]
Now I know a lot of you hate the recent healthcare bill that was released by the Senate. But before you throw the baby out with the bathwater, let’s look at the good things about the bill that you maybe haven’t considered.
First, there have been a lot of complaints about it being drafted by 13 old white men in seclusion. While that is true, it’s well-known that women don’t know anything about caregiving, and therefore haven’t earned the right to be consulted on the matter.
And there have been those that complained that by defunding Planned Parenthood, rural women would have significantly less access to healthcare unrelated to abortions. Ok, I’ll give you that. However, we men have understood for a long time that women can not be trusted to make moral decisions concerning their potential children. Therefore, this bill does women a favor by denying them the right that the Supreme Court gave them to have abortions. Sure it might be a little mean-spirited to cause PP clinics to shut down and deny rural women access to other healthcare unrelated to abortions, but eventually they’ll understand that they have no place making abortion decisions related to their own bodies. When they do, funding can be restored for non-abortion women’s services. So the ball is in their court.
Another complaint many have expressed is the general content of the bill. They’ve pointed out that only about 17% of Americans support it. And that many groups oppose it such as the American Medical Association, many hospital groups, AARP, conservative groups (e.g. Heritage Action, the Cato Institute, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, and Tea Party Patriots), and progressive groups (e.g. MoveOn.org and Center for American Progress). All that may be true. However, the President said it was “wonderful” and Paul Ryan called it both “monumental” and “exciting”. So there’s that.
Plus, you don’t hear complaints from those making over $200,000 a year (who on average would receive a $5,600 tax cut) and those making $1 million a year (who on average would receive a $51,000 tax cut). We can never help too much, those who need the least.
One particular complaint going around is about the drastic cuts to Medicaid which provides health coverage and services to about 50 million low-income children, pregnant women, elderly people, and disabled people. We are not doing these people any favors by giving them a handout. If they want healthcare they need to get off their butts and get a job. And not flipping burgers. They need engineering, IT, or other professional jobs that come with good health insurance. When they do get those jobs, they’ll thank us.
And for those elderly people who get kicked out of nursing homes because they’re too lazy to get a job with health insurance, they can move in with their kids. This will give their daughters and daughters-in-law more opportunity to learn about healthcare issues so that one day they might earn a seat at the table when the country’s healthcare decisions are being made. You’re welcome.
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