I was going to publish a diary on a topic completely unrelated to today’s events, but after a trip to my congressman’s local office to make my views known (yet again) on the so-called American Healthcare Act, I have something else to write about. The head of Keystone Progress in Erie County, PA, Dan Doubet, sent out an e-mail earlier this week to encourage constituents of Glenn Thompson (R, PA-05) to come to his “local” office in Titusville (more than an hour’s drive from the city of Erie) to personally share their views on the AHCA with Thompson’s staff. Since both phone lines (to Thompson’s DC office and to the local office) were not being answered, or the phone message box was full, the only way to share an opinion today was through a face-to-face meeting. So be it.
Thompson is a member of what’s called the Tuesday Group, which bills itself as a group of “moderate” Republicans. I would never in a million years call Thompson a moderate, but when the rightmost edge of your party consists of frothing-at-the-mouth crazy people insisting on giving us the the best government that the 19th Century can provide, standards for moderation are pretty low. Be that as it may, Thompson was one of the “moderates” who suggested he would likely not vote for the original AHCA bill back in March. Of course, he never got the chance to show how he would vote because Ryan pulled the bill. As of yesterday, however, he was listed as one of the “leans yes” votes among the “moderates” in Mattrek’s diary on the AHCA vote. That puts our side at a disadvantage, but given that the congressman representing my district had even a small likelihood of yielding to constituent input, I felt it was my duty to make my voice heard in the most personal way. More below the fold.
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Unlike previous trips to Congressmen's local offices, I took no photos. I took no notes either, which means I can't provide the names of the staffers I talked to.
On approaching his office, I saw a group of protesters on the corner. My immediate assumption was that these were fellow ACA supporters who would be lobbying the congressman with me. Then I read the sign held by one of the women there: "Obamacare hurts." These were people who supported the repeal of the ACA. A couple of the people who lobbied with us tried to engage the ACA-repeal-supporting protesters, but they later said they only spouted nonsense: e. g. that Obama was both a Nazi and a Muslim. I knew engaging them was a waste of time, so I ignored them.
We were led to a conference room where we were directed to write our concerns on forms that would then be faxed to Thompson while on the floor of the House. (Full House deliberations had already begun by that time.) An aide whose name I can’t remember was present, as well as an office staffer, to whom we could express our opinions. The aide said that he was unable to answer any policy questions on behalf of Thompson because he was unfamiliar with this particular issue. (I had to wonder precisely which rock he’d been living under to be unfamiliar with the current Congress’ most prominent clusterfuck.) Among the concerns raised by those present were:
- Of course, the AHCA allows insurance companies to charge those with pre-existing conditions astronomically high premiums.
- The concept of a “pre-existing condition” is malleable to the point of abuse (as we saw in the pre-ACA days), and virtually everyone could be classified as having one.
- The allowance for the re-imposition of lifetime caps for some benefits could end up killing people with expensive diseases (e. g. cancer).
- The stripping out of federal funding for Planned Parenthood by the bill disadvantages low-income women.
- The CBO has not yet scored the bill.
- Under the ACA, millions of people who had never had insurance before finally had it, and insurance costs for people on the individual market had gone down.
Dan Doubet presented Thompson’s aide with the following question: Other than a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires and a vague promise of “freedom,” how does the AHCA actually benefit American society as a whole? The aide reiterated that he was not equipped to answer policy questions.
Toward the end of this meeting, one of the ACA-repeal protesters wandered into the room with a sign showing the word “Obamacare” in a circle with a slash through it. One of the other people present identified the sign-holder as the one who had called Obama a Nazi. The person then said (I’m paraphrasing) “So Obama killed 6 million people?” The sign-holder nodded and said “Gay marriage.” I immediately said “Hey, gay-married right here!” So Mr. mouth-breathing sign-holder thinks the existence of my marriage is equivalent to the murder of 6 million Jews at the hands of Hitler.
One thing that the aide pointed out during the meeting, which I did not know previously, was Thompson’s pre-Congress experience in healthcare. This is from his website:
...Thompson spent 28 years as a therapist, rehabilitation services manager and a licensed nursing home administrator. Through his professional experiences, [Thompson] has touched the lives of thousands of individuals facing life-altering conditions. As a result, he has learned firsthand the importance of access to quality healthcare and has become a strong advocate for increased access, affordability, quality of care, and patient choice.
With all of this personal experience, is it any wonder then that Thompson voted for the AHCA today? There are no limits to Republican hypocrisy. Given how conservative PA-05 is, Thompson will probably not suffer any damage from this in the next election. If the AHCA manages to pass the Senate, and Trump signs it, Thompson’s constituents will suffer a great deal of damage, as well as many others nationwide.
As a last word, I’ll note that three other Pennsylvania Republican congressmen voted against the AHCA today: Costello (PA-06), Dent (PA-15), and Fitzpatrick (PA-08). These representatives are in swingy districts where a “yea” vote would have been a death sentence.
And now, for the comments:
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From peregrine kate:
Today is a somber anniversary, 47 years since the student massacre at Kent State University in Ohio. (This was followed a few short days afterwards by another mass murder at Jackson State University in Mississippi, a tragedy that should be just as prominent in our collective memory.)
BOHICA published a post earlier today in commemoration, and it has attracted several poignant comments. I'd like to draw people's attention to two of them.
One is by hannah, who, in this comment, makes the justified if painful observation that these killings serve to keep everyone aware of what could happen to them.
The other comment is by sfbob, who is a cousin of Jeffrey Miller, one of the students who was killed.
Top Mojo ala mik!
For Wednesday, May 3, 2017, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on the subject.
2017-05-04, courtesy of jotter!
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