Let’s hear it for the GOP

As 2014 rolls into place, the GOP is poised to take control of the U.S. Senate and subsequently the entire legislative branch of government. Well, I for one say it’s about time. Let’s hear it for the Grand Old Party. Let’s give them their heads, put them in charge, and let them show us once and for all that government is an ineffectual collection of out-of-touch idiots.

By far the best talking point the Republicans have is the implementation of Obamacare. Crashing websites, “You can keep your plan ...” and the list goes on. Well, actually that is the list, but if managed properly by political operatives, those two points can be made to seem like Pearl Harbor, Armageddon and the Invasion of the Body Snatchers all rolled up into one steaming ball pitched straight from the plains of Kenya. There’s a little metaphor confusion here, but I think you get my point.

The website problems are well documented and prove that the government can’t get anything right. Really it proves that a private contractor wasn’t given enough government supervision, but why let facts stand in the way of a good argument.

As for the oft quoted, “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it.” Obama really put his foot in it that time. What he should have said is, if you want to keep your health insurance, the government will do more than just regulate the industry. It will completely take it over and make it impossible for insurance companies to cancel your inadequate plan or for market forces to do what they do. Of course, that’s not what happened, but again we’re dealing with that facts vs. argument thing.

In fact, the Republicans in Congress have maneuvered themselves into a pretty good position. They have managed to dilute or completely eliminate elements of Obamacare that would help control costs and make for a much more viable program. Now they can point to its shortcomings and say see, it’s not working. Let’s all give a heartfelt thank you to the GOP.

When the Affordable Care Act was being crafted, it called for the expansion of Medicaid and the implementation of something called the public option. Simply put, the public option would allow people to buy into Medicare regardless of their age. This would bolster the Medicare coffers by expanding the base to include younger, healthier people who would be paying premiums into the system. The increased size of public insurance would then provide more leverage to help drive down healthcare costs when negotiating with hospitals, doctors, and drug companies. It would also offer stiff competition to private health insurance companies and provide impetus for them to bring down their fees. To sum it up the public option would increase competition and drive down costs.

Something must be wrong here. This government run public option would offer a good product to more people at a better price. That just flies in the face of the GOP mantra that the government can’t do anything right. Well, congressional Republicans saw right through this common sense solution and dug in their heels. They, along with private health insurance companies, fought the good fight to keep competition out of the marketplace and voila, no public option for you.

This truly was government-run health care, just like Medicare, and as we all know: government bad. Just ask any Medicare recipient how miserable they are. They have to go to any hospital they choose for that hip replacement without paying a $500 to $600 monthly premium. Curse you, liberty-hating government health insurance.

While insurance lobbyists and their minions, the GOP, managed to block a public option, they fell a little short when it came to the expansion of Medicaid. Just like the occupying British troops in 1776 Boston, congressional Democrats cut down the Liberty Tree and used it for firewood. I mean, of course, that they managed to keep Medicaid expansion in the ACA and made health care available to people who normally couldn’t afford it. Let’s just throw another log on the old tyranny bonfire.

Thankfully, a recent Supreme Court decision has said that the feds cannot force states to expand their state-run Medicaid programs. Since that decision roughly half the states have chosen to opt out of a program that would infuse billions into their economies and insure the working poor. Take that, freedom haters.

Oddly enough, states that have taken this out tend to have higher health care premiums. They also tend to be states with Republican governors and or legislatures. This just proves the Republicans’ point that the government can’t get anything right. At least when the GOP is in charge. See? They told us so.

So I say, let the Republicans have their way. Let them show us how awful the government can be. Let them throw millions off of food stamps. Let them turn out the unemployed and force them to live under bridges. And while we’re on the subject of bridges, let the GOP fail to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. Let them threaten another default. Let them shut down the government by refusing to vote on a budget that they were largely responsible for. Let them keep the poor and working poor as far from meaningful healthcare as possible. The reality is that, unlike the critique of Obamacare, the GOP list of accomplishments does go on and on and on.