Republicans have priorities. They just suck.
It doesn’t matter what Donald Trump’s name is placed upon, whether it is a football stadium, an RX plan, a savings account, the Kennedy Center, or a tacky golden ballroom, none of that will ever be as lasting or as important to America as the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a., Obamacare.
People complain about health insurance, and that is an American right. In England, satisfaction with their National Health Service (NHS) is around 29%, but if you think that means that they don’t like their healthcare system, hold on, Skippy. Over 3/4 of those in the United Kingdom support the NHS. It is a source of national pride.
During the opening ceremony for the London Olympics in 2012, a tribute was paid to the National Health Service. Performers, dancing with hospital beds looked weird, but then again, a nation that actually cares about its people and believes healthcare is a human right was weird to me in 2012 because I’m an American.
In America, it was a huge fight to get the Affordable Care Act passed. The Affordable Care Act’s popularity was around 35% in 2010. But today, its popularity is around 65%. It’s about the same number of Americans who want subsidies extended over tax cuts for the rich. Guess which one Republicans prioritized.
The Democrats caved on the government shutdown for a promise from Republicans that there would be a vote on extending subsidies. The Republican plan for subsidies is not to extend them, which is dumb politics considering that a majority of Republicans want the subsidies extended. As it turns out, people don’t like paying too much for their health care. Go figure.
A recurring critic on my Facebook page commented on this cartoon and claimed Obamacare is a failure because it needs to be subsidized. That is not the failure. The failure is the American political system when the party in control does not care about Americans’ healthcare.
The failure in the United States is that healthcare is not free. The failure is that we have not enshrined healthcare as a human right.
Since my stroke, I have complained about the healthcare system and my insurance. I am going to continue to complain. But man, I am so happy that I do have insurance. If it were not for Barack Obama and the Democrats, I don’t know where I would be without the Affordable Care Act. That’s not true, actually. I know that I would be in much greater debt than I am in now, and that I would never be able to dig out of it without Obamacare.
Visit Clay Jones’ website and email him at [email protected].