Being Libertarian has learned of the following provisions and amendments that were attached to the Obamacare “repeal and replace” bill, titled American Health Care Act of 2017, that compelled GOP Senators Rand Paul, Jerry Moran, Mike Lee and Susan Collins to publicly declare their “no” votes:
Moran: objected to an amendment by Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe that would add household pets to the individual mandate. “The wording on this amendment is unclear. I assume my cat Mittens would be included as a ‘household pet’ but what about my African Grey parrot Toto or my children’s guinea pigs Laurel and Hardy? This veterinary insurance amendment raises too many questions and provides very few answers,” Moran stated.
Collins: objected to raising taxes on selective cosmetic surgery. “You may not think that Maine has a high population of reality TV stars and middle aged divorcees looking for love in all the wrong places, but I will not vote for anything that places a further burden on my constituents,” Collins said..
Lee: objected to a descending graduated scale of premium coverage for households with more than six children. “I’m horny AF,” Lee tweeted.
Paul: objected to the removal of subsidies for transition lens eyeglasses and a redistributive tax on hair straightening shampoos. “Federal Reserve blah, Constitution blah blah, my dad blah blah blah,” Paul said in an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
***
Here’s the third paragraph from a CNN article that describes how the Senate GOP bill fell apart:
Across town, over rosemary-grilled rib eye and summer vegetable succotash at the White House, President Donald Trump and GOP leaders were attempting to convince a group of reliably conservative rank-and-filers to join with them and vote for the health care bill. But as they dined on lemon ricotta agnolotti with heirloom tomato ragout and the “farm stand peach cobbler,” the Senate rebellion against the health care bill was well underway.
It’s no wonder those Republican senators jumped ship: you don’t serve lemon ricotta agnolotti with heirloom tomato ragout! That’s way too acidic. To make agnolotti sing, you collaborate it with an artichoke basil reduction. Anything else is simply uncivilized.
Furthermore, as shown in the picture of the menu Texas Senator John Cornyn put on his Instagram account, J. Rochioli Chardonnay “River Block” 2007 and Lewis Cellars Cabernet “Napa” 2004 were served. This is just more proof of the ineptitude of the Trump Administration. You don’t pair rib eye steak with Chardonnay, just as you never drink red wine with fish, or have we all forgotten the lesson of the 007 classic From Russia With Love? I daresay this ignorant pairing conveys how insidious the Russian influence on the Trump Administration really is. And everyone knows 2004 was a terrible year for California Cabernets. Good God, no wonder the French hate us and why so many other countries no longer view the United States as the world’s lone superpower.
***
Thanks to more than 70 years of government meddling, the American healthcare system was already broken long before Obamacare came along. Decades of massive subsidy programs have accelerated price growth and favored certain monopolistic health care providers that cater to government programs. Governments have also limited supply of basic coverage by imposing an endlessly growing regime of regulations on the industry. Prior to the 1960s—before the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid—healthcare prices had been stable. They have since exploded.
The ways that the healthcare system is structured, regulated, and controlled by state intervention are so vast and varied as to be impossible to even describe in limited space. The very fact that we think of healthcare as a type of insurance is itself a government creation, as is the entire licensing and regulatory monolith that so severely limits services.
Because of this, returning to the status quo of eight years ago would hardly be a victory for freedom and free markets. Moreover, the United States has been one of the biggest spenders on healthcare in the world per capita. With the exception of Norway, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, the United States tops every other nation in terms of the size of its healthcare welfare state. These trends pre-date Obamacare.
McMaken essentially writes that Republicans shouldn’t even bother to repeal Obamacare since it is just one more in a long line of “fixes.”
Obamacare is the amputation of a limb that has contracted gangrene from a previous surgery to set a broken bone.
***
And that’s the way it is, as far as you know.
Image: HuffPo
Latest posts by Dillon Eliassen (see all)
- Sympathy & Empathy & Hierarchy - April 15, 2022
- Biden Announces Treasury Will Print Other Countries’ Currencies - March 18, 2022
- Why Are There So Many White Progressives? - March 3, 2022