Relatively quiet since he left the White House, former President Barack Obama lashed into Senate Republicans Thursday for the proposed Obamacare replacement health care bill.
In a Facebook post with over 54000 shares, and 7000 comments in one hour, the former president wrote: “The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill, it’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America. It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else. Those with private insurance will experience higher premiums and higher deductibles, with lower tax credits to help working families cover the costs, even as their plans might no longer cover pregnancy, mental health care, or expensive prescriptions. Discrimination based on pre-existing conditions could become the norm again. Millions of families will lose coverage entirely.”
“Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family ― this bill will do you harm,” he said. “And small tweaks over the course of the next couple weeks, under the guise of making these bills easier to stomach, cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.
Obama has barely contributed to any White House issues, only weighing in on some major issues on the surface-level. “I hope our Senators ask themselves ― what will happen to the Americans grappling with opioid addiction who suddenly lose their coverage?” Obama wrote. “What will happen to pregnant mothers, children with disabilities, poor adults and seniors who need long-term care once they can no longer count on Medicaid? What will happen if you have a medical emergency when insurance companies are once again allowed to exclude the benefits you need, send you unlimited bills, or set unaffordable deductibles? What impossible choices will working parents be forced to make if their child’s cancer treatment costs them more than their life savings?”
“I still hope that there are enough Republicans in Congress who remember that public service is not about sport or notching a political win, that there’s a reason we all chose to serve in the first place, and that hopefully, it’s to make people’s lives better, not worse,” Obama wrote.
Leave a reply