Friday, August 25, 2017

Democrats still aren't treating health care as a right

Republican efforts to undermine, alter and/or repeal the Affordable Care Act expose one of the greatest logical failings of the law. Despite what supporters of the ACA claim, Obamacare did not make health insurance universal or treat health care as a right. The ACA still treats health care insurance as a welfare program that people either “deserve” or don't.

Forget what proponents of the ACA claim, the only thing that matters is the actual law -- and in cold legislative terms, the ACA makes it clear health insurance is simply not a right for Americans.

The ACA’s provisions clear define certain people unworthy of health insurance because of the choices they make. It allows companies to charge people who use tobacco 50 percent more than non-tobacco users. This surcharge could increase the cost of premiums by thousands of dollars making health insurance unaffordable. That is the point, to force people to choice between insurance or smoking. Not an easy choice given that tobacco is highly addictive.

Democrats left the door open, and now Republicans are driving a truck right through it. According to the Washington Examiner, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget chief, believes that a “person who sits at home, eats poorly and gets diabetes” isn't worthy of receiving health care assistance. Similarly, Republican governors around the country are trying to add work requirements to Medicaid to deny poor people deemed unworthy of receiving this welfare.

Democrats claim to be outraged by these moves, but sadly the difference between Democrats and Republicans on this is only a matter of degrees, not principle. Republicans declaring people unworthy of affording health insurance because they drank too much soda or don't have a job is, in principle, no different than Democrats declaring that someone is unworthy of health insurance because they smoke.

Either affordable health care is a right that everyone should have access to with no exceptions, or it is a welfare program that the government can decide who is or is not deserving of. You don't lose your right to free speech or your right to freedom of religion, because you use tobacco or make other legal bad choices. That is the point of a right, it is meant to apply to everyone.  

If Democrats believe health care is a right, then they need to treat it. Obamacare didn't and it is time for Democrats to admit that and promise to change.

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