The good speech: President must maintain new tone
It was a good speech — the best I have heard him give. Friends and followers who responded to my social media inquiries agreed, though enthusiasm for how good coincided with personal feelings about the Commander-in-Chief. President Donald Trump marked a turning point on Tuesday, one that will serve his administration well if he can maintain the tone and prioritize policy over Twitter posts. Time will tell.
After last week’s column on the lack of productivity in revamping the Affordable Care Act and feed back from readers, I was interested in the specifics of Trump’s plan and what others thought of his speech, in general, and on healthcare in particular.
Trump called for ensuring coverage for those with preexisting conditions, expanded choices, tax credits and health savings accounts, more flexibility with Medicaid dollars for the states, changing laws to restrict malpractice lawsuits, and selling insurance across state lines. He pledged a stable transition as changes are made.
One reader shared a link to commentary published in the Annals of Internal Medicine by the Physicians for a National Health Program, which calls for a single-payer plan to provide insurance for all Americans. Authors Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein said such a plan could be funded within the existing budget by tapping health care bureaucracy and profits. They estimate that a streamlined, publicly-financed, single-payer program would save $504 billion annually on health care paperwork and profits, including $220 billion on insurance overhead, $150 billion in hospital billing and administration and $75 billion doctors’ billing and paperwork. They estimate that an additional $113 billion could be saved each year by bargaining with drug companies over prices.
The health care system that ultimately emerges most likely will address the concerns of those who have invested heavily in political campaigns and politicians. So I am betting the bureaucracy and profits will stay. Sigh …
But back to that speech. Here’s a sampling of responses from friends and social media followers:
“It was by far his best speech, but that was a low bar,” a man from Conway said. “On any of his policy proposals, it’s one thing to promise unicorns; it’s another to have to deliver them.” I agree — and it is easy to be agreeable to with Trump’s speech when there are no specifics about what it will be and how it will be delivered.
“I’m tired of paying affordable healthcare that loses benefits and triples price in two years, but besides that Obama Care is awesome … Not,” a former Pine Bluff resident, who now lives near the nation’s Capitol, said.
“I thought it was good, much better than I anticipated,” a Texarkana woman said. “He actually looked Presidential; now we’ll wait and see.”
“It is what it is, every President is different,” a Fordyce woman said. “We have been through good and bad, give him a chance. Still early in the game.”
An El Dorado woman said she wanted less blame and more action: “Ok. Great. Show me. And, by the way, instead of blaming Democrats for your likely failure before you even start, you might get more cooperation by acknowledging that your plan will be using building blocks from Obamacare that people now say they literally can not live without.”
An El Dorado man said allowing consumers to purchase insurance across state lines would make the premiums more affordable. “States would lose some of their ability to regulate within their borders, but not completely. In the financial industry, we are able to serve clients in different states; however, we have federal and state SEC regulations to adhere to. This would relieve some of the compliance burden on health insurance companies and would make the market place more competitive by giving consumers more options.”
“Pretty much like all such speeches, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing,” another El Dorado man said. “No way there will be a trillion dollar infrastructure program, not that we don’t need it, along with fifty-five billion in excess defense spending, along with ‘massive’ tax cuts. Congress is in charge of this, and if you watched Paul Ryan’s body language, he wasn’t buying it. As for health care, very fuzzy, very nebulous, very lacking in detail. And, don’t try to enlist the opposition by criticizing and insulting them.”
A White Hall man said Trump knows the problems, but will need help of both parties to solve them. “With ACA alone, that program has helped many at the expense of many more. Very unfair and unpopular when majority of Americans costs have risen, while others are getting it for free or extremely reduced rates. It was designed to fail from beginning and if left alone will collapse. If you looked around last night, many Dems were sitting on their hands — the nation saw this.” The same man also pointed out that the name-calling and verbal attacks need to stop. “This isn’t the best way to persuade the other side to join you. Both sides have lost the ability to debate properly. This once was a very powerful way to let Americans know the stance on issues. Civility back in politics would be nice.”
Presidents can set tones by their words and actions. When Americans see Trump arguing on Twitter with fellow reality television personalities about who is most popular — or belittling people in lessor positions over petty issues — it doesn’t raise the level of public discourse. I think we all would welcome and appreciate more civility. Trump’s speech was a start. Let’s see how the race is run to the finish line. Americans are waiting on a win.