Health Care is the Republican’s Aching Hip

One of the harsh realities associated with growing older is the stark realization that our bodily joints actually wear out.  Our youth so often gives us the sense of invincibility and immortality.  We take for granted the simple acts of bending, twisting, and reaching.  Duh…we are humans; that is what we do.  Unfortunately, the body is a mechanical device in many ways and is prone to the same wear and tear that visits bearings and universal joints.   After years of use and abuse, our connective tissues begin to fray and weaken.  The lubricative substances in our joints begin to wear thin and dissipate.  Our nerves seem to somehow become more sensitive to the friction and discomfort that accompanies advanced age.  In short…our bodies begin to wear out.  Most of this process is the natural evolution of aging in our species.  We were never designed to last forever.  On the other hand, most people do a very poor job of maintaining their bodily machinery until their physical problems demand action.  And then, when we turn around one day and our arms are not long enough to extend the book so it can be read or our feet have somehow grown farther from our hands and it is hard to tie shoelaces in a strain; then we come to terms with the grim reaper who has come to collect his fees for the years we spent taking our bodies for granted.

I am no physician, but more than one physician has told me that the hip joint is a major intersection in the body.  It is nothing short of incredible how numerous aches and pains in various body parts can be traced back to the hip joint.  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the number of hip replacements for those aged 45 and over more than doubled between 2000 and 2010, from 138,700 to 310,800.  Spread that over our fifty states and it is extremely likely that you or someone close to you has been impacted by this relatively modern procedure.  And if you talk with people who have had the operation performed, their assessments will vary.  Most will express new-found relief from the chronic aches they had been experiencing.  But some will not find much relief and there is always the prospect of having the machinery replaced at some point in the future. 

In many ways, health care is the aching hip joint of the Republican Party.  Health care, along with immigration, consistently comes up as one of American voters’ top concerns (We only seem to be concerned about the economy when it is bad).  Democrats continue to poll better than Republicans on health care.  Part of the explanation for this advantage undoubtedly lies in the fact that Democrats continually promise better care at little or no cost to the consumer; a strategy otherwise known as unicorns and rainbows.  But a more pragmatic reason for this perception discrepancy between the two national parties is that when it comes to health care; the Republicans have talked the talked but refused to walk the walk.  Just like the old aching hip, they knew the issue was there.  Try as they might to ignore it; it reliably barked and nipped at their heels.  They talked about all the things that could be done short of hip replacement.  Much like cortisone shots and physical therapy, the Republicans wanted to trim at the edges and let the private sector deal with minor adjustments in our national health care industry.  This policy approach, juxtapositioned against the Democrat’s wholesale change proposals, led to a stalemate in the political world because people just really did not want to get down to the ugly details of major surgery.  They weren’t really happy with high prescription costs and medical bills; but they reluctantly trusted the devil they knew more than the devil they didn’t. 

That changed with Obamacare.  The Democrats had been long been lusting for a single payer health care system.  Fearing that there was insufficient political support for that broad leap, they grouped their health care policy wonks together and came up with Obamacare.  Whatever else Obamacare may or may not have been; it was not a true and pure picture of what the Democrats actually wanted to pass.  It was instead what the Democrats were able to pass.  Had it not been so complex and convoluted; had it not been so contentious politically; had they simply passed what they wanted to pass; perhaps we would now have a clearer idea of exactly how a single payer health care system might work in this country.  But that was not to be. The manner in which Obamacare came into this world, kicking and screaming and being the centerpiece of President Obama’s legislative legacy, doomed it from its inception.  The legislation received not one…single…Republican…vote.  Now I am not an expert; but I can assure you that in this political nation of ours, any piece of legislation that fails to receive at least a handful of bipartisan votes is pretty much going to suffer an ignominious fate.  Obamacare did just that.

Notwithstanding any good aspects of the Obamacare legislation; Republicans were bound and determined to kill it.  It represented far more to Republicans than an effort to revamp our nation’s health care industry; it represented Obama’s liberal philosophy and all that it entailed.  It was Obama.  With Obama; it was Obamacare.  With Trump; it is the Wall.  When Trump came into office along with Republican control of Congress, the Grand Old Party was delirious about the prospect of repealing Obamacare.  But after whining and complaining about that old aching hip for years on end; when it came time to consider the prospect of actual surgery, the Republicans balked.  And why do you think that happened?  It happened because they had no plan to replace it.

Just like the dog that chases the car and doesn’t know what to do when it’s caught; the Republicans were flummoxed when they finally had the opportunity to eliminate Obamacare from the annals of Congress.  Just like that dog who, when the vehicle they were pursuing slows down or stops, runs around it yapping, snapping and making a show; they made a lot of noise but were sorely confused about exactly what to do with the shiny object in their hand that had been so fervently pursued.  Whether you agree with what Obamacare was and what Obamacare is today; it was a real, tangible effort to address a troubled health care system in this country.  The American voter tends to reward a national party when it actually does something.  The downside is that they are mighty quick to punish that party if the legislation does not pan out; but they do appreciate the effort. 

I believe Obamacare was a fatally-flawed concept that was rammed down the throats of Americans in an unethical and extra-ordinary legislative fashion.  I think it is absolute lunacy to think that our government can do a better job of administering an industry like national health care in a more effective and efficient fashion than the private sector.  I chafe at the notion that the government can demand to me as a private citizen what insurance I should buy, what that insurance should cover, and how I should manage my health care risks.  In spite of all that, I credit Obama and the Democrats for attempting to do something.  I just wish they had compromised somewhat and settled for 85 percent of what they wanted instead of demanding all of it; that would have eliminated a lot of spite and malice.  I submit that the slight polling preference that we see today with Democrats holding an edge over Republicans in health care concerns flows from the fact that at least the Democrats tried to do something.  Given their opportunity; the Republicans did not.

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The Democrats running for their party’s 2020 presidential nomination are taking a page out of the Republican’s playbook.  They talk a good game; but they come up waaaay short on the details.  A sweeping implementation of Medicare for All would send our nation’s health care industry into a tsunami-esque bureaucracy of inefficiency, high costs, mediocre medical care, and government waste taken to new and stratospheric heights.  The dishonesty and disingenuousness of these candidates is breathtaking.  And just like the Republicans, who when faced with their health care moment of truth, standing in complete control of Congress with a Republican President, failed to repeal and replace Obamacre; these wannabe presidential candidates would ultimately face the cold, harsh realities of attempting to give every American every health care need available at little or no cost to them or their government.

What has made America’s health care system a model of envy in the global community is the degree of competition and innovation that has existed in industry to date.  Freeing up the entrepreneurial instincts of creative minds and coupling that with a sincere approach to compassion and moderate regulation is the pathway to a better health care system.  This is not a case where we need to throw out the baby with the bathwater.  This is not a case where, like Obamacare, we need to ram a totally new concept down the throats of American consumers in an area as pervasive, complex, and personal as health care.  This is not a case where we need to hurtle headlong into a dark unknown passage with unicorns and rainbows as our only defense against poor judgment, unanticipated consequences, and bad ideas.  Democratic Party: forget about Medicare for All.  Republican Party: get over Obamacare.  It has been cut, diminished, and revised to a point where it is only a shell of its original self anyway.  Get together in a civil fashion, listen to the common sense and experience of people who are actually involved in the health care industry, and begin the serious process of making significant, incremental improvements to our nation’s health care industry.  Embrace the fact that we have a system that is largely successful.  Stop using health care as a political talking point to further partisan agendas.  Keep the components that are working (yes, even those meritorious aspects that remain from Obamacare) and make strategic, well-reasoned changes where improvements are needed.  Take care of those Americans that are truly in need and retain accountability for the choices that others make regarding their own health care decisions.  That old aching hip may someday require surgery and replacement.  But for now, let’s use the remedies that are available to us and put off the scalpel until a later date.