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Give us same health care as elected officials; Ron Hendrickson (RH); Beaver County Times; February 28, 2017.
This is my first review of an RH letter.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Since the Republicans are so obsessed with repealing the Affordable Care Act, I have a simple solution: Replace the ACA with the same health insurance that the senators, congressmen and state lawmakers have, or give them the same one that they will come up with for us.”
[RWC] Joe Zanella responded via his letter “Where was the outrage when the ACA was passed?”
“We will then have top-notch health care for all. I am sure that they would not have a problem with this. They were elected by the people, for the people, so why on earth should they have better health care than their constituents?
“Please contact your congressman, senators and state lawmakers and present this to them. I would think that they should not have a problem with this. After all, they tell us they have our best interests at heart.”
[RWC] Awesome fact-checking - not. Contrary to what the Hendrickson and Zanella letters assert, Congress must use Obamacare. In fairness to Messrs. Hendrickson and Zanella, they were not alone. As of the time I wrote this review, all contributors to the discussion threads of these letters made the same error.
According to PolitiFact, “The requirement for Congress became part of the law after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in 2009 offered an amendment that required lawmakers to get their health care through the marketplaces. A version of the amendment was adopted.”
Finally, these letters and their discussion threads are perfect examples of why I constantly tell every reader to do his own fact-checking. In this case, everyone blindly accepted RH’s premise that Congress was exempt from Obamacare. Two letters and their discussions wasted time we can’t get back.
This reminds me of a quote from the movie “Billy Madison” (1995). The school principal said,
“Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
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