AHCA Lies (shortened version)
It’s difficult to sort
out the most egregious of House Republicans’ excuses for their “repeal
and replace” American Health Care bill, a multicar pileup initiated by
its Paul Ryan brain trust. A common refrain has been that they knew it
was going to be changed by the Senate anyway. Another has been that no
state is really going to request the waivers we’ve included in the bill
(wink, wink). Locally, we’ve been offered a whopper by Rep. John Faso,
R-Kinderhook, who has claimed that New Yorkers should have no concerns
about the bill’s waivers allowing states, in effect, to price out of the
insurance exchanges older and sicker Americans with pre-existing
conditions (a consequence confirmed by the Congressional Budget Office’s
recent scoring). Faso asserts the waiver provision could affect only 7
percent of Americans and not New Yorkers because New York law protects
consumers and the state would not seek a waiver.
Faso seems to
not understand that I, like many of his constituents, have family
members and friends who do not live in New York or benefit from its
protections. I do care about how the AHCA will affect them. His claim
that he is responsible only for his district, but he voted for a bill
that threatens the security of millions of Americans.
Faso’s
stance is consistent with the ethics regime of Trump’s “make America
great again” program: greatness is built on isolation from one’s
neighbors and friends (to hell with NATO), on thinning out the weak from
the strong (“compassion” for those who pay taxes), and on getting away
with naked political maneuvering whitewashed with thinly disguised lies.
Publishing History
Albany TU 6/16
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