GOP health care bill would hurt many in this area
The current presidency is absolutely exhausting and frustrating. Between lies, scandals and what seems to be an openly aggressive war against the poor and elderly, there hasn’t been a moment’s rest for those of us concerned with maintaining America’s democratic values.
No one can be more tired, though, than disabled Americans, who have been aggressively fighting for fair and equal rights since their first sit-in, in 1935, and their fight continues today.
Just last week disabled men and women were carried out of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office kicking and screaming, “No cuts to Medicaid.” The Republicans’ American Health Care Act (AHCA) cuts $800 billion from the federally funded health insurance that services 74 million Americans, 60 percent of whom are disabled or elderly. Some protesters were carried out in their wheelchairs. Police carried others out by their limbs like carcasses. It was a sad sight to see — 43 disabled men and women arrested and handcuffed with their arms strung behind their wheelchairs, held together with plastic zip ties.
The steep cuts will drastically change their lives, especially those who receive home health aids funded by Medicaid to help them live independently and get out of the house to work and enjoy life.
America sure has changed. In 1978, not one police officer in Denver was willing to put their hands on disabled protesters blocking a popular public bus route all day and night until officials were willing to talk about the absence of wheelchair-accessible buses. The protests gained national attention and eventually led to the signing of the American Disabilities Act in 1980. The group, known as ADAPT is now celebrated for its efforts, with a plaque in the Denver library.
I wonder if they will have the same success with this “mean” health care bill. Maybe one day they will be celebrated as the heroes that saved health insurance for millions of Americans, including 36 million children from working families.
What really upsets me, though, is that these disabled Americans are out in the trenches fighting for their rights and the rights of millions of others who will suffer grave consequences from a Republican agenda that many of them na茂vely support.
A reported 60 percent of Southwestern Pennsylvanians (outside of Allegheny County) are still pledging undying support for Trump, while they are the ones who suffer most from his proposed Medicaid cuts. According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Pennsylvania ranked fourth in Medicaid spending at $27.5 billion in 2016 behind California, New York and Texas respectively. In 2015, among the non-elderly receiving Medicaid in the state, 49 percent were white; 25 percent Hispanic; 18 percent black and 7 percent other.
The Republicans are using selfish, greedy tactics to disguise a tax break for the wealthiest families as a healthcare bill that also benefits their insurance and pharmaceutical campaign contributors. Four of the senators, who worked directly on the health care bill, including Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), received more than $300,000 in contributions from the two industries.
President Trump has essentially conned rural Pennsylvanians into accepting an agenda that does not include their best interest through lies, broken promises and perceived common enemies — Muslims, Mexicans and blacks.
One thing I know for sure about rural Americans in Fayette, Washington and Greene counties is that they are not easily played and they are not stupid. So why now are they blindly following a man and a political agenda that does not serve them?
Nobody wants to admit that race has been a driving factor in the support of a celebrity, real estate mogul as president but that is the truth. It’s the one thing the elite know can convince white, working-class Americans that they are on the same team. It’s a trick they have successfully used for centuries.
Republicans have demonized the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by dubbing it Obamacare and defining it as a handout from a black president to minorities in order to confuse Trump’s base supporters, who must not know that Obamacare is the ACA and actually benefits them the most.
The prime victims of Trump’s proposed health care bill are the poor, old and addicts — all of which describe many Southwestern Pennsylvanians who blindly support Trump.
The Republicans are using race to win over rural, white, working-class Americans and tricking them into voting against their own best interests. It’s time for all Pennsylvanians to wake up and join the fight. It’s not fair that disabled Americans are out there fighting our battles.
April Straughters is an award-winning journalist having reported for the Daily Courier and the 蘑菇视频. She is working on an independent community project to serve the local area.