Prospects for less expensive health care are elusive when leaders get subsidies to lower theirs

Until our national leaders serving at Washington, D.C. are required to pay the same premiums for the same health care programs as the U.S. citizens that they serve, there will be no real cost reduction plans in health care.

There’s simply too much fast money offered to decision-makers by pharmaceutical lobbyists to be had.

That’s why I ask U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts to introduce new legislation - finally - calling for the end of the reported 72 percent health care subsidy provided to each member of Congress under current law - and other perks that precent them from acting in our best interests.

If U.S. citizens could unite to do one thing, I think it should be this - make federal lawmakers and their families feel the same health care burn that the rest of us feel.

In the news recently, representatives from Kansas hospitals were weighing in on the “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017,” saying the U.S. Senate proposal - the Republican-led proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act would trigger “deep cuts to the Medicaid program that covers thousands of Kansans.”

Isn’t it just about par for the course in this country, that leaders from one of the leading political parties who have been railing against the Affordable Care Act now for several years, have nothing better to offer?

In this singular issue, American citizens should understand that the current batch of U.S. leaders - from both of the major political parties - are basically clueless about the health care cost issues facing American citizens and have no motivation to change anything.

 “Medicaid cuts of the magnitude forecast are unsustainable and will increase costs to individuals with private insurance,” the Kansas Hospital Association statement said. “Additionally, this legislation would significantly disadvantage states like Kansas that have chosen not to adopt Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act.”

KHA alleges that the legislation rewards states that expanded Medicaid before this year with “hundreds of billions of dollars that is simply unavailable to non-expansion states by virtue of rendering them ineligible to participate in the ongoing expansion program.”

Isn’t it about time Kansas’ Jenkins, Moran and Roberts showed us what they’re really made of regarding true health care reform?

With Republican majorities in both the House and Senate - and a Republican president - our Republican leaders could make health care better for all Americans.

 

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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