Two caveats to a touching photo-op

Speaker Ryan’s bill would allow states to waive ACA protections that now bar insurers from charging higher premiums to childhood cancer survivors. It would also allow states to weaken the Essential Health Benefit, which is so critical to ensure that insurance actually works for people who experience costly or life-altering conditions.

I haven’t even gotten to Medicaid and the impact of higher premiums for low-income people.

Author: Harold Pollack

Harold Pollack is Helen Ross Professor of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. He has served on three expert committees of the National Academies of Science. His recent research appears in such journals as Addiction, Journal of the American Medical Association, and American Journal of Public Health. He writes regularly on HIV prevention, crime and drug policy, health reform, and disability policy for American Prospect, tnr.com, and other news outlets. His essay, "Lessons from an Emergency Room Nightmare" was selected for the collection The Best American Medical Writing, 2009. He recently participated, with zero critical acclaim, in the University of Chicago's annual Latke-Hamentaschen debate.

7 thoughts on “Two caveats to a touching photo-op”

  1. As I understand it, states that want to essentially continue with Obamacare can do so. States that want to set up separate high-risk pools (or not) can do so. Are there any restrictions that would prevent, say, California, from setting up a single payer system?

  2. I wish I knew what their "powerful stories" were. Were they as gripping as Atlas Shrugged? Did they work ten jobs, while receiving chemo, so they could afford to pay for their own care instead of asking Uncle Sugar to pay for it? Maybe they had insurance, but felt bad about all the costs they incurred, so they paid back the money as soon as they could so the other policy-holders in their risk pool wouldn't suffer from their "bad choices." Or maybe they just took the insurance money, but later decided that it was the wrong thing to do, so they wrote Paul Ryan a letter asking him to take insurance away from as many people as possible to make sure no one else makes the same mistake they did. (This is Ryan's approach to Social Security - he got survivor benefits when his dad passed away, but it's an awful socialist program bankrupting the nation that he'd decimate if he could.)

    Still, I must say, they look like nice kids. I can see giving nice kids healthcare, but you know, not all kids are nice. Some kids would scare Ryan's socks off if they got that close to him. Giving them healthcare seems like a reward for bad behavior.

  3. "Powerful" is the wrong word for him to use in this case, as the stories apparently will have no impact on his policies.

  4. Paul Ryan is beyond loathsome. His policies are inhumane, and dishonest even by his own stated objectives. He lacked the courage to explicitly endorse Trump during the campaign, and now every shot of him with Trump feature him wearing that "I'm the world's biggest suck-up" grin.

    A single earthworm does more good than Ryan.

  5. I wish I knew what their "powerful stories" were. Were they as gripping as Atlas Shrugged? Did they work ten jobs, while receiving chemo, so they could afford to pay for their own care instead of asking Uncle Sugar to pay for it? Maybe they had insurance, but felt bad about all the costs they incurred, so they paid back the money as soon as they could so the other policy-holders in their risk pool wouldn't suffer from their "bad choices." Or maybe they just took the insurance money, but later decided that it was the wrong thing to do, so they wrote Paul Ryan a letter asking him to take insurance away from as many people as possible to make sure no one else makes the same mistake they did. (This is Ryan's approach to Social Security - he got survivor benefits when his dad passed away, but it's an awful socialist program bankrupting the nation that he'd decimate if he could.)

  6. "These Wisconsin teens shared some powerful stories with me about their fight against childhood cancer. I shared some powerful stories with them about heroic capitalists battling parasites who want the fruit of these capitalists' hard labor and brilliance without working hard or being brilliant. I explained to them that it was all well and good for kids their age to rely on their parents' labor to support them, but only if they made a serious effort to pay their parents back for any out-of-pocket costs they incurred, once they too became productive members of society. They promised that they would grow up to be makers, not takers, and it warmed my heart like a trillion dollar tax cut."

    1. "I shared some powerful stories with them about how I intended to make it impossible for them to get health insurance ever again if they lived in the wrong state. Because this was an official photo op, they were forced by the rules of politeness to keep smiling and not spit in my face."

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