REAL Republicans should love ObamaCare. Here are four reasons why:

Number A: It is market-based, using the power of competition to lower prices and offer better quality. Republicans love that sort of free-market solution.

Letter 2: It is reducing the Federal Budget Deficit, which means a reduction in the increase of the National Debt. Republicans love deficit and debt reduction.

Thirdly: It takes a whole raft of people who have been “free riders” and makes them pay for  their health care. Republicans love individual responsibility.

Finally: ObamaCare was originally created by the Heritage Foundation, a Republican think tank.

Kind of hard to hard to argue with, innit? These are all Republican ideas, enacted by a Democratic Prexy and a Democratic Congress. Why, any real Republican would be in seventh Heaven over it all.

So, that means anyone who claims to be a Republican but hates ObamaCare must not be a real Republican. Indeed, they would be “Republicans” in name only. That’s pretty much what this writer (along with millions of disaffected moderate Repubs) has been saying since, oh, about 1979 or so. The party that calls itself “Republican” is in fact going berserk, trying to destroy a health care policy that it should be embracing.

Your Cranky correspondent, as an Independent, hasn’t got a dog (or Jackass, or elephant) in either the intermural or intramural partisan fighting that sucks up so  much valuable time and so many limited resources. But he DOES have an interest in a sane, open, transparent health care system in this country that we all share. And these fake “Republicans” are getting in the way of that worthy goal.

To all the real Republicans who are still out there: do us all a favor and kick these Reaganista charlatans out of your party, and take it back. Please. Then we can all return to a bunch of rational grownups running the show, having meaningful debates, reaching compromises, and just generally governing according to the rule of law and basic principles.

Instead of just mindlessly, reflexively hating anything and everything that comes from a Black President, even if the original idea was from Repubs in the first place. Which is exactly what “Republicans” are doing with ObamaCare.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

ObamaCare Helps California Small Businesses Get 36 Million $$ in Refunds from Insurance Companies. Repubs Still Hate It.

Today’s LA Times has the story: because of ObamaCare, health insurers who get caught gouging their customers have to pay back the money they tried to steal. In this case, millions of dollars are going back to small businesses in California.

Now, you’d think that “Republicans”, who are always rattling on about the glories of small business, would be supportive of the ACA when it does something good for those small businesses. You’d think that, but you’d be wrong.

No, the Elephants are still trying to trample the health care law, with all of its savings and benefits. Because, Gentle Reader, they don’t really support small business, or the free market, or much of anybody except their paymasters campaign contributors . And, you guessed ‘er Chester, those greedy motherfu**ing health insurers have been giving lots and lots of bribes campaign contributions to Repubs.

As is so often the case in politics, it’s all about the money. The Affordable Care Act, remember, was a “Republican” idea in the first place, and indeed was first implemented in Massachusetts by a Repub Governor. So if it were truly about the policy, the ‘Phants would love it. But, of course, they don’t.

The only thing our “representatives” care about is lining their own pockets. They don’t give a damn how much we pay for what, or what happens to us if we can’t pay. Don’t believe it? Look at the proven benefits of ObamaCare, then look at how the Repubs are still trying to kill it, and provide another explanation. We won’t hold our breath waiting on you.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

ObamaCare is Cutting Health Care Costs. Haters Ignore This Fact.

Here is a link to a story in Forbes that shows how ObamaCare is saving money by slowing the previously unsustainable growth in health care costs. Yes, that is correct: the much-reviled Affordable Care Act would appear to be making health care, well, affordable.

And do we hear any of the many haters recanting? Of course not. Because facts mean nothing to them; all they care about are their opinions, and they will cling to those irrational beliefs long after reality has rendered them irrelevant.

The ACA is doing exactly what the Prexy said it would. And, much as it may gall us to say so, we owe President Obama an apology, and our thanks as well.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

We Told You So (How Obamacare Is Cleaning Up Health Care Financing)

In April of 2012, Mr. Blunt and Cranky wrote this post:https://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/you-are-already-paying-for-the-uninsured-but-the-costs-are-hidden/, in which he pointed out that hospitals inflate the prices charged to the uninsured in order to cook their books. The uninsured get charged far more than the actual cost + profit; they get sued and their credit is destroyed when they can’t pay the bill; and the hospital writes off the artificially high loss as charity care, or as an unpaid debt. This shell game allows providers to scam patients, governments, insurers, and taxpayers. And for years, it’s been in the shadows.

Recently the New York Timed came out with a story that said pretty much the same thing as this blog said last year (nice of them to finally catch up). Short version: ObamaCare requires these medical con artists to clean up their acts and stop fleecing the rest of us, and shines a bright light into the shadows where the ripoffs have hitherto occurred. Specifically, ObamaCare requires health care providers to charge the uninsured the same as they charge the insured. That, people, is a big deal, because it makes their cost-shifting scams illegal.

You can learn a lot about what something is for by seeing who is against it: almost everybody is in favor of this part of the ACA; almost everyone, that is, except for health care providers. They hate this law, because they can’t rip us off as easily as they used to. So they have bought Congresscritters and Senators aplenty, and spent money on lying TV and radio ads to make us believe that ObamaCare is badbadbadohyessoverybadindeed. They didn’t do that because Obamacare is bad for US, they did it because Obamacare is bad for THEM, and their borderline-criminal activities.

And what does it say about the state of our news media that one cantankerous old blogger scooped the NYT by 13 months? After all, it’s not like the information wasn’t out there, or that this writer is some kind of frickin’ genius. No, the media sat on this story for years before they put it out. That is almost as contemptible as the actions of the health care industry.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

What They Have Said Is What They Will Do

A while back, Mister Blunt and Cranky wrote a post about paying attention to the pronouncements of Leaders: https://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/they-tell-us-what-they-will-do-but-we-dont-believe-them/

Take a minute and read it: take your time, no rush, this post will be waiting when you return…OK, welcome back. As the post said, when politicos say they are gonna do stuff, they frequently do unto us exactly what they said they would. And now is a very good time to pay attention to what the party candidates are saying (we will ignore Obama in this post, because we have all been listening to his spiel for 5 or 6 years now and have it pretty much  down), because what they say now is what they will do if elected.

Willie Romney has picked a far-right ideologue to be his Veep: One Paul Ryan,  beloved of tea partiers and the bane of many others. A few peeps are surprised , but not the Crankster: Romney has been talking far-right smack for a good long while now:

“My view is that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. That’s the position I’ve had for some time, and I don’t intend to make any adjustments at this point… Or ever, by the way.”

“Through pro-growth policies, by abolishing Obamacare and eliminating other Obama-imposed impediments to economic growth, we will get our economy back on track.”

“Of course you get rid of Obamacare, that’s the easy one, but there are others,” he said. “Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that.”

And Paul Ryan has a fair few choice quotes to which one might pay a wee bit of attention; here’s a really scary one:

“The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”

And so on. Listen to what they are saying, and look at what they have proposed: Tax cuts for the rich, paid for with cuts to things like roads, bridges, schools, and screwing us out of the Social Security and Medicare benefits that we have all been paying for over the decades. They will take away the good bits of Obamacare and deregulate the insurance companies.  They will outlaw birth control and make choice illegal. They will also deregulate banks, oil companies, and anyone else who has a few million bucks to stuff in their pockets. More money will flow to their bank accounts and less will remain in yours.

This is what Romney and Ryan have said they’ll do. They will do it. If you vote for them, you’d better want them to take away your money and  protection and services you have paid for, because that is what is gonna happen.

Yes, they really mean it. No, they are not kidding.

Mr. B  & C

Lying Sack Of S*** of The Week: Geese and Ganders

The Crown O’ Polished Turds for this here week goes to the Romney Campaign. In a truly epic bit of fertilizer-slinging, he claims that ObamaCare (nee’ RomneyCare) is a war on religion, and that RomneyCare (now ObamaCare) is not.

This is such an enormous heap of bulls***, Mr. Blunt and Cranky is inserting polished bull turds into this week’s crown. Massachusetts had requirements for churchish organizations to provide birth control, and ol’ Willie M. Romney made no fuss: nor did he screech when the Bushies enforced the same rule during the early Oughts.

If the rules are essentially the same, then the effects are essentially the same. And that means: if that nasty dark-skinned socialist Prexy is a-wagin’ war on religion; why then, so too were the idiot coke-head fake Texan, and the mutant-haired Mormon tax-shelter junkie.

Somebody goose that gander Mitt, and let him know that he is a fierce anti-Christian warrior, too. Onward, lying soldiers, marching…

Mr. B & C

Mitt Romney’s New Health Care Plan: Adios, Mother F***ers, You’re On Your Own

People have been asking the originator of ObamNeyCare for his latest and greatest new health care policy for a while now, and until recently getting bupkis for their efforts.  Mitt is nothing if not efficiently opaque, and he has been deflecting the questions with all the ease and grace of a master matador confronted with a herd of elderly, arthritic dairy cows.

This week, he finally told us his new health care policy: It is to “return us to a setting of personal responsibility”. That is code for AMFYOYO (read the headline again and you’ll get the acronym): no one will help you, you are truly on your own, regardless of circumstance. This is, of course, not the true meaning of “personal responsibility”, but it is what politicians usually mean by the term:

When they try to take away the Social Security and Medicare benefits we have been paying for, it’s pitched as “personal responsibility” (or sometimes “individual empowerment”). Meaning? AMFYOYO.

When Reagan threw the mentally ill onto the street, it was pitched as “personal responsibility” (or deinstitutionalization”). Translation? AMFYOYO.

When states cut funding for counties and localities, it is pitched as “personal responsibility” (or sometimes “local empowerment”). AMFYOYO.

And so on. This writer is a big believer in personal responsibility, but knows full well that politicians don’t mean what most of us mean by the term. In politico-speak, “personal responsibility” means “we will give the voters less and our special interest paymasters more”. Just look at the last few decades and see where our money has gone, and how little benefit we, the people, are receiving for our hard-earned.

Back to the current example: Romney, having turned against his own creation (ObamNeyCare), wants to get rid of it and replace it with…nothing. AMFYOYO.

Mr. B & C

Infamous Days, Indeed (Foreign Invasions = Women’s Health Care)

A few years back, terrorists attacked the United States of America (9/11); killing innocent civilians, traumatizing millions, destroying billions of dollars’ worth of property, and starting a set of wars, some of which rage on to this day.

A few more years back, a foreign empire attacked the United States of America (Pearl Harbor); killing soldiers and civilians alike, traumatizing millions, destroying billions of dollars’ worth of property and materials, and starting a war, the scars of which are still visible to this day.

Today, women across the nation will be able to get better insurance coverage for their breast exams, pap smears, screenings, birth control and other health care products (ObamNeycare); killing nobody, traumatizing only a few bigoted billionaires, creating millions of dollars of additional productivity and starting no wars whatsoever.

Yep. All three are pretty much the same. Yupyupyup. Sure thing.  At least they are if you ask “Representative” Mike Kelly (R-PA), who is hugely freaked out about this infamous day, on which employers and insurance companies  might have to cough up a few more shekels than they did yesterday. The horror, the horror.

Ask anybody who was in Hawaii on December 7^th, 1941; ask anybody who was in Manhattan on September 11^th. 2001; ask them if their blood runs as cold over the prospect of cheaper boobie exams as it does when they remember the horrific attacks that maimed our nation.

Mr. B & C

Mitt Romney, You Socialist Swine

Everyone knows that Mitt Romney pushed and pulled to enact universal health care in Massachusetts when he was The Guv there; everyone also knows that Barack Obama totally stole Romney’s plan and took it national (which is why Mssrs. Pawlenty, Blunt and Cranky et.al. have used the term “ObamNeycare”).

Since Mitt decided to run for the Presidency, he has shifted his stance somewhat (as in, the North Atlantic is somewhat salty, and a wee bit chilly & wet); he says that what was good public policy for a single state is Socialism for an entire nation. Hard to buy a line of hooey like that, but not impossible. So, we gave ol’ Willie the benefit of the doubt.

Until today, that is.  The Guv was in Israel, and he was loudly talking up their health care system: a system which looks one whole helluva lot like ObamNeycare. So it looks like Mitt is indeed a Socialist MoFo just like the Prexy, since he has now praised the same system at state AND national levels.

He must have just been funnin’ with us about not liking Obama’s heath care system. Or lying, so as to hide his Secret Socialist Society membership (do they give out decoder rings?). Yup, Mitt was a stinking Socialist all along, and tried to hide it: but now we see the truth.

Of course, it could be that the whole Obama/Romney/Israeli health care model is not Socialism at all, and is simply good public policy….naaah. Couldn’t be.

Mr. B & C

Private Insurance ALREADY Rations American Health Care

As his readers will already know, Mr. Blunt and Cranky is managing a goodly list of chronic and acute maladies. Because of that experience (as well as having been an industry insider), he is more than a wee bit acquainted with the American “health care” system.

And he has had his health care rationed. But neither by our big-eared President nor his weird-haired challenger. No, it is the for-profit insurance companies that have screwed with his health care.

Rationing in America is driven by profit margins. For-profit health care is built upon this gigantic conflict of interest: making money vs. providing care.  It happens every day, people dying because of Aetna et.al.  denying them care so as to remain in the black. What this means is that people who are as rich as Bill Gates or Charles Koch get a little richer every time somebody’s care is denied.  Once again: investors make more money if you get less care.  The idea of a family member being sicker or dead just so some Wall Street suit can buy a bigger Beemer does NOT help this writer to stay in his Happy Place.

The private industries who are running this get-rich-over-our-dead-bodies (literally, that is one way they become rich) scheme are paying millions to keep things as they are, and not because they give a rat’s hiney about your health. No, they are buying TV ads, Congresscritters, Senators, and Clarence Thomas to make sure they keep on making money. They hate ObamNeyCare because it threatens a teenytiny piece of their enormous profit margin. Said margin at least substantially derived from rationed care, private sector style.

When these industries try to scare us with the bogeyman of “government health care”, we should stop for a second and consider: could government employees, who get paid the same whether they approve care or not, really do any worse by us than private sector employees who are pressured via their paychecks to deny us care?

Nope, not likely. This writer knows from socialized medicine, and can tell you it beats the living Hell out of our for-profit system.  And the reason is: people get more and better care when the primary criterion for deciding on care is whether the doctor, in their expert opinion, thinks said care will fix the problem.

Right now, your doctor is not, repeat, NOT in charge of your health care. Some accountant at an insurance company is. And they get bonuses if you get less care. This blogger calls that rationing, and it has been going on for years.

Bring on the bureaucrats. At least they won’t get paid extra for second-guessing medical professionals.

Mr. B & C