December 15, 2013

Another Sunday full of talking heads concerning their empty little selves with how Politifact's ridiculous Lie of the Year determination might hurt Democrats.

For the talking heads, health care is merely a political issue to be used as a tick upward or downward on the scorecard for 2014, because of course it has no impact on actual real people, right?

In this particular segment, they worry their little heads over how President Obama is viewed through the lens of the health care issue as if they have nothing to do with that perception, while rattling their worry beads over how it will adversely impact Democrats in 2014.

If only Politifact had been around when George W. Bush was lying to us about Iraq and WMD. Maybe we could have saved thousands of lives by opposing that war before they sent troops into that godforsaken place for no specific purpose other than settling the score and Dubya's Daddy issues.

Meanwhile, our panelists completely ignore the true liars in Politifact's lie of the year: Insurers. Once again, I urge them to read the transcript of an actual telephone call which took place in 2010 luring an insured in a grandfathered plan out of that plan and into one that wasn't grandfathered.

On the topic of grandfathered plans, I have yet to figure out any benefit to them. Grandfathered plans are expensive and don't have many of the consumer protections in ACA-compliant plans. They amount to a junk policy that could be replaced easily enough with a plan on the exchange or else an excessively costly policy that isn't nearly as good as ones on the market now. Whenever I ask someone with a grandfathered plan why they want to keep it, the answer is usually that they're afraid the ACA will be repealed and they want to hedge their bets.

Here's a news flash: The repeal train has left the station with no passengers. Republicans don't want to repeal the ACA; they just want to attack it because they think they're scoring lots of political points. They think it's just great to use it as a pawn in their midterm game, and this panel is willing to assist them in any way they can. I repeat: Republicans need the ACA and a willing pundit class to set up their 2014 midterm strategy.

Meanwhile, Republicans are actively destroying our economy, haven't lifted a finger to create jobs, are obsessed with lady parts, are completely fine with our crumbling infrastructure, and are threatening to melt down everyone's financial security by making threats about the debt limit yet again.

When are we going to take this narrative back and start focusing on the good the ACA is doing for people? I know I'm grateful in our personal situation, I know of many families finally getting some access to health care at rates they can afford, and those stories are being told. Why aren't our pundits talking about them? That was a rhetorical question. We all know negativity sells.

I have one question for every person on this panel. Do they think that an uninsured person who was just diagnosed with cancer gives one whit for whether some right-wing, overprivileged person with a crappy insurance policy can't keep it? Or do they suppose that just-diagnosed person will be grateful their life was saved because they could actually still get health insurance for an affordable rate?

You figure it out, and maybe someday the Villagers will, too.

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