Trumpcare: Obama Tells Democrats If Donald Trump And Republicans Gut Obamacare, Brand Republican Health Care Plan Trumpcare
As reported by CNN, Barack Obama suggested to Democrats that – if Obamacare is out – Trumpcare should become their rallying cry. During a meeting with Congressional Democrats to discuss the future of Obamacare – a term the Republicans originally coined as a disparagement for the Affordable Care Act – President Obama suggested that Democrats should fight Republican efforts to change or eliminate the current healthcare system, branding any replacement system – or lack thereof – as Trumpcare.
Branding Republicans with TrumpCare
Obama made clear to Congressional leaders in the Democrat Party that they didn’t have to roll over and play dead in the face of Republican plans. More than this, he warned that Democrats should avoid falling into the trap of “rescuing” the Republicans from a problem of their own making.
At the same time, Republicans were gathered for a Wednesday meeting in which they discussed their “plans” for scuttling Obamacare and eventually replacing it with something else.
As Vice President-elect Mike Pence put it when speaking to reporters later, “Make no mistake about it. We’re going to keep our promise to the American people … We’re going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with solutions that lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government.”
As a part of the Democratic strategy of tying the massive disruption that will result from eliminating Obama care to the Republicans, some Democrats are also floating the phrase “Make America Sick Again” in a parody of Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”
Obamacare versus Trumpcare
Obama made the promise very early in his administration that he and the Democrats would implement a program designed to vastly increase the number of people in the country with health insurance. Prior to Obamacare, people with pre-existing conditions or who were low income found it very difficult to obtain health insurance at a reasonable price.
In fact, millions of Americans had no health insurance whatsoever before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Given that the Republicans and Donald Trump have put forward no concrete proposal for actually replacing Obamacare with anything, Trumpcare might become synonymous with the total absence of healthcare for these people.
Republicans have promised previously that they would attempt to repeal Obamacare within the first 100 days of the newly inaugurated Trump administration. While Donald Trump has occasionally suggested they might keep some aspects of the current system, many within the Congress itself are determined to eliminate all aspects of the Affordable Care Act.
As reported by the Associated Press, a number of Democrats are suggesting many Americans might face a gap in coverage – assuming that the Republicans actually replace Obamacare with anything at all. While the Republicans may quickly make major changes to Obamacare – perhaps eliminating it entirely – they are now saying it may be six months or more before they even come up with any proposals for the Trumpcare replacement.
It seems likely that the number of untreated illnesses among Americans will rise significantly once Obamacare has been eliminated by the Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump in the White House. When combined with the problems that will no doubt result from Trump administration and congressional changes to the Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans hospital programs, the mortality rate in the United States just might start ticking up again.
So it’s perhaps not surprising that by branding these changes Trumpcare Obama hopes to tie all of the problems that result from eliminating or massively reducing Obamacare to the incoming Trump administration. When the upcoming election cycle rolls around – the next congressional elections are in 2018 – many of the people who voted for Donald Trump may demonstrate in the voting booth that they regret their decision.
[Featured Image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
