Diabetes Blog – Happy-Medium.net

They’re back.

Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate are trying to take away health care from the Americans they represent. Again.

The newest effort, the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson proposal, or Graham-Cassidy, as many are calling it, is pretty much the same effort that failed earlier, in a different package. I guess the only thing different about this one is that this time, four guys are actually stupid enough to attach their names to it.

But the basics of the bill are the same as others: Remove Affordable Care Act subsidies and replace them with block grants. Nice idea, but it really never works. And even if it sort of works, it only works on a state-by-state basis. So the truth is that, best case scenario, many patients in many states would have significantly reduced access to care. Even less access to care than before Obamacare was passed.

The bill also proposes to defund Planned Parenthood (again). Like I’ve said before, you can’t do that without saying to millions of American women that breast cancer screenings and other preventative procedures aren’t important to you. That’s a hard sell.

The bill also states that it will “protect patients with pre-existing medical conditions”. Well, excuse, me, but I already have that protection today. This bill doesn’t promise anything new on that, except the assertion that this “protection” they speak of would also come with significantly increased premiums for people living with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and yes, pregnancy.

Senator Lindsey Graham, in repeated interviews, has stated that I don’t have to worry, that I would still be able to purchase insurance if this passes. Hey, look, I can still purchase a $120,000 Tesla, but I can’t afford it. This is the same thing: Making health care a luxury product, rather than a right for all Americans.

It still comes back to the same thing for me. If a “repeal and replace” bill can’t offer at least the same access to coverage, at the same cost, as the Affordable Care Act does today, it’s going to be a non-starter for Americans. Especially since half or more of us live with those pre-existing conditions.

We’re tasked once again with defending our right to health care. Contact your elected officials right now. Once again, American lives are at stake.

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