Why I am afraid: One word … Obamacare

I would like to give the Republicans a great amount of credit.  They did a masterful job of winning the election on Tuesday, and they did so with the old fashion type of campaigning that has proven successful time and time again.   They painted the opposition as do-nothing losers who have hurt the economy and middle-class Americans and America’s standing in the world.  Then they said what they would do to make it all better.  I'm not so sure that it is an admirable approach, but both parties use it and this time it worked exquisitely.

The fact that economy has been growing by leaps and bounds, the stock markets are at record highs, unemployment is the lowest it has been since Barrack Obama took office … all of that was lost in the message that has been broadcast by disgruntled Republicans since the day President Obama took office (lead largely by the ultra-right wing Tea Party).   You start with a huge boulder, chip away at it day after day, and after six years all you have is a pile of gravel.  Obama was the boulder and the Republicans held a big chisel.

All of us with short memories forget the days before Obama won election.  The economy was in a shambles.  Joblessness was double digit.  The United States was frowned upon by other nations (largely because of the actions of the former President).  Much of that was forgotten as the architects of Washington, DC gridlock did an admirable job of instilling the notion that nothing could get done in the nation’s capital without a major overhaul.

On radio and TV yesterday and in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, the new leadership is talking about their priorities.  And I agree with much of what they have to say.  Lower energy costs, increase jobs … pretty much most of the things that we have already seen happen (lacking in the comments is anything about increasing workers’ wages which are still lower than they were a decade ago).   They claim they are now ready to do it in a bi-partisan way.   That is all good.

But the one singular issue that remains a top priority for the newly elected Republican controlled Congress is to do away with the Affordable Care Act.   The exact words in the Wall Street Journal piece penned by Mitch McConnell and John Boehner:  “It also means renewing our commitment to repeal ObamaCare, which is hurting the job market along with Americans’ health care.”

And that’s what scares me … and scares me deeply.  Since 2008 when I left my job in California, I had not been able to get health insurance in the U.S.  I had a pre-existing condition, cholesterol, and took one pill a day to keep it under control.  The prescription cost nine-dollars ($9) for a one year supply for the medication, and my cholesterol has been perfect.  But no one, not one US insurance company, would sell me health insurance. Not at any cost.   I was flatly denied time and time again.  So, I was forced to buy expensive international health insurance from a Latin America based company (with extremely high deductibles), that restricted my visits to the U.S. to under 180 days a year.  Yes, I was a California resident; yes, I owned my home in Palm Springs; but no, I could not live there full time because of my health insurance restrictions.

When Obamacare came along, I was able to finally get health insurance in the United States, and at a cost I could afford.  I have had an opportunity to use it and I am extremely impressed.  I have been able to establish a relationship with a medical group in Palm Springs, I have been able to get timely appointments, and the care I am receiving is exceptional.   None of that would have been possible without the passage of the Affordable Care Act.  My apartment in Mexico is now for sale.  California is again home.  And I hope it can continue to be.

When I hear that Obamacare has hurt so many millions of people, I wonder who and how.  Certainly, it was not me.  When I was a reporter, I realized how easy it was to find “victims” of virtually anything, and thus I am sure that those who are against the President and his progressive health care plan would have no problem scraping up those who claim they have been harmed by it.  The Republicans have been very good at finding them.  The Democrats, on the other hand, have done a terrible job of countering those negative stories with stories of success … stories like the one I have to tell.

So yes, I am scared to death that if indeed the Republicans soon to be in charge carry out their agenda, I will not be able to fulfill my dream of again living in America.  I will be forced to again move to a foreign country where I am more welcome, and where I can get health insurance.

There is a solution.  If the new leadership is seriously hell bent on wiping out the Affordable Care Act, as they have said they are (and I have no reason to doubt they aren’t), they should then be prepared to provide an alternative (call it Boehnercare if you want to, I don’t care) to help the millions of Americans who indeed have been helped by Obamacare.   I would be more assured if I heard them say they would be meeting with their Republican colleague, Mitt Romney, and getting his input as to what should be done, since he successfully implemented an Affordable Care Act-like program in Massachusetts in 2006 when he was governor there.  I am not hearing any of that.  All I am hearing is the same old baseless rhetoric, rooted in hatred toward the Democratic President, that his landmark health care program must be thrown out and thrown out completely, thus creating a problem without a solution.

I want to give the Republicans a chance.  I want to believe that they have what it takes to make America a better place.  But I also want to live in America again.   And without health insurance, which I could not get before Obamacare became a reality, that simply won’t happen.