Is the American Health Care Act (AHCA) the most dreadful program ever? You would think so, from the coverage of it in the press.
You would also think, from the vehemence with which they’re carrying on, that the AHCA was a statute that had been passed by both houses, and not a first effort subject to change in the Senate.
The headlines on the subject are replete with words like “shameful”, “horrific”, and “abomination.”
Typical and not at all unusual was the following from Senator Elizabeth Warren:
It bears repeating that this is not even a law yet. But the idea is to ramp up the fear to as high a level as possible.
Here’s an article that discusses the viciousness of the Democrat reaction. Take a particular look at this response appearing in the WaPo:
The health-care bill that the House of Representatives passed this afternoon … is an abomination. If there has been a piece of legislation in our lifetimes that boiled over with as much malice and indifference to human suffering, I can’t recall what it might have been.… It is no exaggeration to say that if it were to become law, this bill would kill significant numbers of Americans.
All this for a bill that is more liberal than the health insurance laws were just a few short years ago, when things were not all that bad for most people; a bill that would restore some health insurance choices that were taken away by Obamacare, as well as perhaps even cost less. Perhaps. And did we repeal EMTALA, and leave poor people with no health care whatsover? If we did, I must have missed it.
Amidst so much purposeful propaganda, how to find the truth about the bill? In the past I’ve found that Avik Roy is one of the most trustworthy analysts on these matters. His review of the AHCA is that it’s a mixed bag—some excellent things are in the bill, as well as some things that are problematic and need fixing, but nothing that would justify the sturm and drang of the left’s propaganda. Here are Roy’s detailed suggestions for a fix in the Senate for the provisions that are unlikely to work.
Roy knows his stuff, unlike the great majority of the people who seem to be writing about this topic. His prose isn’t as purple as theirs—it’s rather dry in style. But that’s what we need, although it’s vanishingly rare.
My hope is that the Senate will be paying attention.
[Neo-neocon is a writer with degrees in law and family therapy, who blogs at neo-neocon.]
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