We can’t deny that major changes are taking place in the country today. With the change in the political climate, we can expect that more changes are still coming our way in the months and years to come. It has been evident ever since the new president took oath and assumed the presidency.
The passage of new bills concerning health care is just as controversial as Trump’s immigration and trade policies. Obamacare has been in place for the last two terms. Various medical personnel all over the country are not thrilled with the current administration’s efforts at repealing it and eventually getting it replaced. Bloomberg.com got it covered:
The Republican plan to replace Obamacare has a health problem.
On Wednesday, the U.S.’s biggest advocacy group for doctors came out against House Republicans’ legislation, while the insurance lobby expressed concerns with the bill, adding to growing opposition from the country’s top trade groups for physicians and hospitals who worry that it will leave more people uninsured or with limited coverage.
In a letter to Congress, the American Medical Association said it “cannot support the AHCA as it is currently written,” referring to the American Health Care Act, as the Republican proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is named. The association calls itself the largest physician advocacy group in the country, and backed the nomination of Tom Price as President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary and point person on the health law.
Groups of doctors and nurses do not like the GOP plan of replacing the existing health care law and they made sure their voices are heard amidst all the chatter in today’s political circus.
Groups representing hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, patients and older people criticized the Republican proposal. While some major industry players, including insurers and drugmakers, were notably silent, one big Medicaid provider predicted the GOP plan would wreck the insurance marketplace.
“We cannot support [the speaker’s bill] in its current form,” Richard J. Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, said in a letter on Tuesday.
Their reaction right now is a far cry from when the Obamacare was introduced to them back in 2009.
The speed with which major health industry groups distanced themselves from the GOP plan stands in sharp contrast to how Obamacare took shape in 2009. Democrats sought input from the health care industry from the beginning, working to build support before their bill was released to the public.
The National Health Council, a coalition of patient advocacy groups and other organizations, said Tuesday it was concerned that phasing out Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, as the GOP bill would do by 2020, would lead to “the eventual loss of access and reduced affordability for the nation’s most vulnerable.”
AARP blasted the bill as “a sweetheart deal” for drugmakers and insurers, and said it would weaken Medicare, raise costs for seniors, and cut Medicaid.
(Via: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/health-care-industry-gop-bill_us_58bf2eaae4b054a0ea65d4ce)
Members of the Democratic Party share the same sentiment as these disappointed healthcare professionals and can’t help but worry about how it will affect the masses over time. However, they can’t control as to what actually gets approved or not considering that it is the first time the Republicans once again have total control of the White House and both chambers of the Congress.
Democrats, meanwhile, have denounced it as a gift to the wealthy that will take insurance away from millions of people.
“What they’re doing is very destructive. … It represents the biggest shift of money to the wealthiest people in our country, the top 1 percent, at the cost of working families,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters.
Doctors and other providers said the bill would probably cause many patients to lose insurance and raise healthcare costs. The American Medical Association urged senior lawmakers in a letter to reconsider drastic changes to Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor.
(Via: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obamacare-idUSKBN16D2RC)
People are upset because their lives will be affected by these drastic changes in the health care system. If these politicians really care about the public – especially the vulnerable groups who rely on the system to take care of them when they get sick – they will consider their welfare and not just repeal the current system because it was drafted by the opposition.
They should be open to debate – both with the Democratic party and even have a dialogue with the public and the health care sector – to find out what needs to be changed and what already works and not just make life-changing decisions without understanding the real issue.
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