George Graham

It Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

As Trump and his Republican pals struggle with the mess they’ve made by promising to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, even they are beginning to see it isn’t going to be easy.

In a meeting with the country’s governors yesterday, Trump confessed:

Nobody knew it could be so complicated.

But it’s only complicated because politicians don’t have the guts to make it simple. Not just simple but effective, economical and life saving.

All they have to do is:

Expand and revise Medicare to include everybody.

But they won’t do that because they have to protect the vested interests that pay their way.

Republicans never do anything that might help ordinary citizens without making sure their corporate contributors get a piece of the action.

When George W. Bush was president, Congress took pity on desperate seniors and decided to pay for our rescriptions. In a roundabout way, they also gave us a break on other healthcare needs (through a program called Medicare Advantage).

But they couldn’t just pay our healthcare bills. That would have left the private insurers in the lurch. So we have to go through a private insurer to get our government benefits.

I’m sure you don’t have the time (or patience) for me to describe how it works and the many vexing problems it creates.

Just take it from me, it’s complicated.

More on the Obamacare dilemma

About the author

gwgraeme

I am a Jamaican-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada and the United States. I live in Lakeland, Florida with my wife, Sandra, our three cats and two dogs. I like to play golf and enjoy our garden, even though it's a lot of work. Since retiring from newspaper reporting I've written a few books. I also write a monthly column for Jamaicans.com