Editor: Many people think that because a columnist is syndicated, he knows what he is talking about. They don’t. Such a column was in Wednesday’s paper. The columnist claims under President-elect Trump hospitals will go broke and people will be without health care.
He stated that under Trump Medicaid would not be expanded in Georgia. Why do we still have Medicaid? Under the ACA (Affordable Care Act) everyone was mandated to have insurance and if you couldn’t afford to pay for it, the government would give a subsidy to help pay for it. Someone please explain this to me why we still have Medicaid.
The columnist thinks that the loss of Medicaid money would hurt rural hospitals. I would think that if everyone had insurance under the ACA the hospitals would be better off.
He also thinks that 58,000 people will lose their insurance. As it is they can’t afford insurance even under ACA because the cost for insurance premiums has gone through the roof and the deductibles are outrageous. In some states, there is only one insurance company and they can charge just about whatever they want. Under Trump’s plan, insurance companies can sell in every state, thereby creating a competitive atmosphere, which will drive down the cost of insurance.
Because small businesses will be able to shop for inexpensive health care plans, they will offer health coverage to their employees as they did before ACA. Under ACA, if someone worked over 30 hours, the company had to supply health insurance. Guess what? Employee hours were cut. As it now stands, employees get paid less and pay more for their insurance and deductibles. Now, does ACA sound like a good idea?
Remember president Obama saying, "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."? That was an outright lie as many ACA participants lost their doctor, some after many years of care.
Before, ACA we had the best medical care in the world. After ACA, the cost of insurance skyrocketed. It has become hard to get doctor appointments, and the cost of prescription medicine and health equipment, is out of control.
If the government wants to see Americans get better health care and reduce the cost of health care, it needs to reign in the drug companies who deliver huge profits to their stockholders. It needs to look at the overcharges at hospitals. You can’t take your own medicine when admitted to a hospital; but you must pay 100 times more for the same medicine given by a nurse. If you need a medical appliance (brace, etc.), you need to take out a loan.
Medicare and Social security will not be eliminated. This is just fear mongering by a Democrat. President Lyndon Johnson, a democrat, "borrowed" from the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for the Vietnam War. Of course, the money was never repaid. This is why Social Security is in trouble. Democrats can’t control their spending.
Len Calderone
Midway