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

Congressional Spending is why the Debt Ceiling has to be raised. No other reason.

The “Republicans” who control the House of “Representatives” are once again threatening to refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless their whiny, silly, pouting, and just generally idiotic demands du jour are met. In this case, it’s a demand that ObamaCare be destroyed. A  ridiculous demand, of course, but that’s not how deep the rabbit hole of stupid goes.

Here’s the deal: Congress spends money. They are responsible for the amount of taxing and spending.  That means they are responsible for the amount of the national debt. That means they are responsible for the need to raise the debt ceiling.

“But ObamaCare”, the Wingnuts cry. News flash: Congress voted for it. That means they’re responsible for the funding that they voted for. Not the Prexy, not the courts: that’s what’s called the Separation of Powers. Congress holds the power of the purse, and for years they have been using that power in a most irresponsible manner.

Yes, the debt is too high. But that is no reason for Congress to try to weasel out of paying the bills they have run up over the decades. No, that is a reason to adjust tax and spending policy to bring the national debt down in the future,

The law of the land says the U.S. Government has to pay its bills. If Congress refuses to do so, they will be in violation of the law.  And only Congress will be responsible. No one else. It’s their fault for spending more than they take in.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Why American Needs Health Insurance Reform. And Why You Need Affordable Health Insurance.

Here is just one example out of  millions: a woman, bitten by a snake shortly after losing her health insurance, got hit with a $55,000.00 bill for less than a day in the hospital. Had her insurance not lapsed, she would have paid maybe $300.00   http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/snake-bite-victim-socked-with–55k-bill-150152873.html

That, peeps, is why everyone needs health insurance. Even young, healthy people can have accidents. So to all the “conservative” “Republicans” who are trying to keep people from signing up for ObamaCare, here is why you are completely and irredeemably full of s***.

And to anyone who believes these rubes as they try to destroy common-sense health care reform – wake up and smell the snake oil.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

America’s “Health Care” Mess: Overheard in a Train Station

So Mr. and Mrs. Blunt and Cranky were sitting in a train station, and were seared next to a family of German tourists, one of whom had just injured his back. The mother told him (in German) to suck it up until they got back home where they could get good medical care.

She went on to quite colorfully deride (quite accurately) the sorry state of American “illness care”. At first, this writer thought he had heard her incorrectly, or that his rusty language skills had betrayed him. But on reflection, the lady pretty much nailed our medical industry: illness care, not health care, is indeed what America has.

Ponder her point.

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