"Galindez writes: "The headlines say the Senate GOP healthcare plan is dead. The latest version may be, but we know they will try to dress it up and bring it back.""
Senator Majority leader Mitch McConnell. (photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
18 July 17
ne thing we should have learned by now: in the era of Trump, expect the unexpected. The headlines say the Senate GOP healthcare plan is dead. The latest version may be, but we know they will try to dress it up and bring it back. They might not even dress it up – they may strip it naked and promise they’ll fix it up after 2018.
In fact, it didn’t take Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell long to float his next plan. He thinks he will get a vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement. In a statement late Monday night, McConnell said the Senate would vote to repeal Obamacare with a 2-year delay, giving them time to come up with a replacement.
So the new plan is to kick millions of people off of their healthcare in two years, promising that they will agree on something else down the road. Do you trust these clowns to agree on anything?
This is not the time to wind down the movement to stop the GOP attack on our healthcare. It is time to turn up the heat and demand Improved Medicare for All. We must also be vigilant and be prepared to fight the next attempt to take away our healthcare.
Remember the first time Rep. Paul Ryan failed to get the votes for the House bill? We celebrated, and a few weeks later they were back with a new bill that passed. We must not let that happen again.
Stopping the GOP attempt to repeal Obamacare is only the first step in the healthcare fight. The Republicans are right about one thing – Obamacare in its current form is unsustainable. It lacks a mechanism to control costs.
On July 29th, all around the country, there will be events under the theme “Our Lives Are on the Line.” In Des Moines, the subtitle of the event was already “The Next Step in the Healthcare Fight.” With the GOP plans off the table, it is time for us to go from defense to offense.
As long as the Republican three-ring circus controls the government, there won’t be a solution to our flawed healthcare system. It’s time to push the true prescription to save our country’s healthcare. That is an improved Medicare for All single payer system. Stop being afraid to say single payer and instead win the debate and convince the American people that single payer will work here just like it works all over the world.
Explain to people that countries that provide healthcare to their people spend less per person than our country does. Explain to people that if you remove the cost of healthcare from employers, they will be able to pay higher salaries to more employees. Explain to people that if their union didn’t have to fight for a decent healthcare plan, they could focus on wages and other working conditions.
Those are just a few of the benefits about which we must educate the American people. It is time for us to provide a solution to our flawed healthcare system. To those who say it will never happen, I point to the resident at 1600 Pennsylvania and ask if you thought that could have ever happened. Let us not only expect the unexpected, let us create the unexpected.
To watch Bernie's full speech:
Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott moved to Des Moines in 2015 to cover the Iowa Caucus.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
