Republican crocodile tears over lost insurance

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/why-republicans-suddenly-care-about-canceled-health-policies-1384610713

Amid the current national uproar over the troubles of the Affordable Care Act, it is almost uplifting to hear the deep concern expressed by politicians, pundits, lobbyists and corporate leaders over cancellation of existing health insurance policies. They empathize loudly with the millions of potential victims, whose plight infuriates these worthy observers with fury. They fill hours of television and pages of print with expressions of outrage. Suddenly, everyone in Washington is intensely concerned about Americans losing their health coverage.

The outpouring of noble sentiment would be laudable — indeed, long overdue — if only there were reason to believe these protestations are sincere. Sadly, the evidence points in the opposite direction, for a single obvious reason: Millions of people in this country have been losing health insurance for years, resulting in many thousands of serious illnesses, bankruptcies and early deaths. But until insurance cancellations became a political embarrassment for President Barack Obama, the usual right-wing reaction was silence. (Except for that awkward and revealing outburst during the 2012 Republican debates when a live audience howled its approval for the "let him die" plan.)

For anyone who has ever honestly cared about people losing their health coverage — for instance, Obama or his Democratic predecessor, former President Bill Clinton — the depressing statistical reality has long been plain. Every day, thousands of Americans leave the rolls of the private insurance industry, almost never voluntarily.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. You'd think that by now everyone would be suspicious when

Republicans act like they care about average Americans.

[ProSense]

2. "when tea party Republicans were fighting to kill Obamacare in the cradle"

People often forfeit insurance after losing a job, which happened to millions during the Great Recession. At its height, when tea party Republicans were fighting to kill Obamacare in the cradle, more than 44,000 people were losing their health coverage every week. In May 2009, the policy journal Health Affairs published a projection that nearly 7 million Americans would lose coverage by the end of 2010.

Oh, and put the current outrage in perspective, these are people with junk policies upset about having to upgrade. In other words, they're not the uninsured, those who can't get any kind of insurance.

Hurricane Katrina, The Obamacare Rollout, And Allowing Privilege To Shape Our Politics
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024044297

[Laelth]

3. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[ProSense]

4. Kick! n/t