Any
poll that shows Donald Trump’s approval ratings dropping is “fake news,” at
least according to Donald Trump. And most polls are showing serious erosion in
those ratings. Yet the economy is the “greatest economy in our history”
according to our President, even though his metrics are based on stock market
performance (a bit of a yoyo based on the political announcement du jure) and
“average” metrics. Numbers that tell you rich people are doing well. Like
average earnings. Lots of folks at the top are making bundles more, and of
course that raises the average income numbers. But for 70% of Americans,
stagnation is the name of the “real retained earnings” game. Costs for food,
healthcare, housing and now durables based on products and resources from
China, where the trade war slams “average” Americans in the teeth, have spiked.
Less net money for most of us.
But the
MAGA “friend to average [white] Americans” would be hard-pressed if he were
honestly to explain the declines of “average” American life expectancy in
recent years or the fact that fewer Americans have healthcare and more
Americans are filing for bankruptcy because of an inability to pay medical
bills, even many with health insurance. But then, when have we heard an
“honest” explanation of his myriad of failed policies… I guess because we’re
winning so much.
The
lack of health insurance can explain some bankruptcies, but the recent rise
reflects more families with medical coverage, numbers that seem to rise –
notwithstanding Medicare – more among older Americans. Often, it is the
unexpected impact of an unforeseen medical cost, added to other debt, that
pushes many over the top. The precipitous rise in co-pays, premiums and
deductibles plus the impact of exceptionally limited coverage from so-called
“skinny bundle” policies pushed by the Trump administration in defiance of the
Affordable Care Act adds to the financial pressure.
But by
the numbers, as 20 red state attorneys general joined by Trump’s Department of
Justice and Health & Human Services regulators, fewer people and fewer
ailments are getting coverage, and even those that do face higher costs. “About 27.5
million people, or 8.5 percent of the population, lacked health insurance
for all of 2018, up from 7.9 percent the year before, the Census Bureau
reported Tuesday [9/10]. It was the first increase since the Affordable
Care Act passed in 2010, and experts said it was at least partly the result of
the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine that law…
“The drop in
insurance coverage in 2018 is relatively small compared to the long-term trend,
but it suggests that policy changes under the Trump administration, which has
been hostile to the health law, have made a difference… The administration also
cut back on advertising and enrollment assistance, programs that helped
low-income people learn about the new insurance programs, among
other changes that may have depressed the number of
people signing up for health plans. The government also announced that it might
begin counting Medicaid enrollment as a
strike against immigrants who are seeking green cards or
citizenship — a policy that was finalized this year. Insurance
coverage for Americans of Hispanic origin fell last year, according to the
report.
“The
administration’s decision in 2017 to eliminate
a subsidy program contributed to large price increases for
health insurance in the Obamacare marketplaces in many parts of the country the
following year. Research from the Department of Health and Human Services shows
that more than a million Americans who were previously
buying their own insurance left the market in 2018.
“But the Census Bureau figures show
that the main change in the uninsured rate came from declines in Medicaid
coverage. Urged by the administration, which expressed concerns about the program’s integrity, several states started asking
families to prove their eligibility for Medicaid more often in 2018. The number
of Americans covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program
fell by more than 1.6 million last year, according to
administrative data.
“‘The way they
are doing this seems clearly designed to throw people off this program,’
said Eliot Fishman, a senior director at the consumer group Families USA,
and a former top Medicaid official in the Obama administration. Mr.
Fishman said he was particularly disheartened to see declines in the number of
children with health insurance.
“Brian Blase, a
former special assistant to President Trump for health care policy, said he’s
not surprised to see enrollment in Medicaid fall. He pointed to a recent study suggesting that some Americans who had
enrolled in the program in the early years of Obamacare were not in fact
eligible for it. ‘My sense is in 2018 states probably started tightening
eligibility,’ said Mr. Blase, who is now president of the consulting and
research firm Blase Policy Strategies. [9 years ago?!]
“As part of the
2017 tax law, Congress abolished
Obamacare’s so-called individual mandate, which required most Americans to
obtain health insurance or pay a fine. Technically, the change did not kick in
until this year. But analysts believe publicity about the provision may have
led fewer people to seek coverage.” New York Times, September 10th.
If you want to see the kinds of people most negatively impacted by these
healthcare assaults and cutbacks, just look at all those people standing and
cheering behind Donald Trump at one of his many campaign rallies. We spend 41%
of the global military budget, but we still do not seem to be able to take care
of our own with universal healthcare as does every other developed nation on
earth. What is that massive military protecting again? The same military that
has not won a major war since 1945?
I’m Peter Dekom, and there are
at least three major casualties in Trump’s domestic policies: average
Americans, the environment and truth.
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