AND IF ONLY FOOLS ARE KIND, THEN I GUESS IT'S WISE TO BE CRUEL
You all know by now that the immoral majority in Congress are at it again. They’ve found one last opportunity to screw poor people out of health care, and they’re going for the gusto.
They say that the devil is in the details, but in this particular bill, Satan’s fingerprints are visible everywhere. Graham-Cassidy takes money away from states who did the most under the Affordable Health Care Act to make sure their citizens had health insurance, and gives it to the states that did their best to deprive their citizens of affordable health care.
On the surface, it looks like a “screw the blue states” plan, which is probably where the idea originated. But the part that strains the imagination is that Graham-Cassidy also hits a lot of Republican states hard. The graphic that accompanies this post, (from VOX, link below) illustrates the extent of the damage. The fourteen states in green (all but one Republican) will get billions of extra health care dollars (which they may or may not choose to spend – see below). The rest, in shades of brown, will lose billions of health care dollars. And half of those states voted for Donald Trump.
That raises the question of why so many congressional Republicans are so eager to screw their constituents. The only honest answer I can come up with is that they’re monsters.
It’s not hard to explain why supporters of Graham-Cassidy want more money to go to those particular fourteen states, in the form of block grants which give governors a ton of discretion about how the money is or isn’t spent. Those fourteen states have demonstrated, in their refusal to use Obamacare money to expand Medicaid, that they don’t give a damn about the health of their citizens. Congressional Republicans would be perfectly happy if the money never got spent at all.
Graham-Cassidy also features another perennial favorite of congressional Republicans. It gives insurance companies the right to refuse coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, or to charge them extortionate premiums. Pregnant? Your premiums will jump by $17,000. Need chemo? Better have an extra $172,000 saved up.
Of course, they’re taking a lot more money from brown states than they’re giving to green states. The rest of the money will go towards the Republican Party’s favorite cause – tax cuts for millionaires. If there’s any theoretical justification for Graham-Cassidy, that’s it: we must help the rich get richer, no matter what the cost.
I’ll bet most congressional Republicans call themselves Christians. Lindsey Graham says he’s a Baptist, and Bill Cassidy represents for the Evangelical Protestants. I offer them these words of Jesus to reflect upon as they wreck millions of lives.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25)
“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40)
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matthew 22:39)