Applause for Obamacare ruling
I read with near amusement Christian Schneider’s column whining about the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the tax credit provision of the Affordable Care Act (“Democrats may want to hold off on those ‘happy dances,’ ” Crossroads, June 28).
It seems that Republicans love the Supreme Court except when the majority refuses to toe the conservative line. To say that Schneider’s column reeks of sour grapes is an understatement. As support for his, and the Republican position, he trots out the now totally discredited position that the few words cited by Republicans in support of their position totally negate the obvious intent of the law. The Supreme Court’s opinion, written by their once darling Chief Justice John Roberts, called that position just so much claptrap.
Schneider also repeats the often stated but never supported position that “millions” of people have been “kicked off their current insurance plans.” While the Republicans often make this claim, they never deem us worthy of being told where this statistic came from, who these “millions” are, how many “millions” they are, or what happened to their health care. If true, presumably they will now qualify for coverage under the act. This unsupported, unproven claim brings to mind Benjamin Disraeli’s claim that “There are three types of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics.”
Meanwhile, the Republicans, while decrying the “harmful” effects of this law since its enactment, are still fixated on its repeal rather than repair, and after all of this time have still offered no plausible alternative. It would seem their position is that it is far better for the 6.2 million people who now have health insurance to lose it than to provide them with any type of coverage. Their refusal to care about anybody but their wealthy constituents shows the hollowness of their position.
Don’t worry, Mr. Schneider, we will applaud the decision, as it keeps in place a law that, while not perfect, is far better than the previous situation and far better than the alternative that you have still failed to offer.
Harvey Goldstein Milwaukee