THE ‘QU’ILS MANGENT DE LA BRIOCHE CONSERVATIVES’

Some Conservatives want to go so far right as to abolish Medicare, Medicaid and welfare

In their haste to keep their promise to abolish Obamacare, House Republicans have passed a health care bill that will sock it to older Americans and those with preexisting conditions.

The idea is to let private health insurance take over the health care of all Americans and then the competition between the insurers will lower health care costs. That is a figment of someone’s imagination.

First, since there is no mandate to obtain health insurance – a good thing – many if not most healthy Americans will opt not to get health insurance, preferring to wait until their good health begins to fade. That will leave the insurance carriers covering those who are not in the best of health and the elderly with their old age ailments. And that is going to raise insurance premiums, not lower them. It has been estimated that premiums could be five times higher for people over 65 than they are now.

Under the House passed bill, people with pre-existing conditions would be placed into a ‘High Risk Pool’ with high premiums, high deductibles and minimal coverage.

As for competition lowering insurance premiums, all one has to do is look at the competition between automobile insurance companies. GEICO, Progressive, Liberty and other companies promise they will save you $500 or more than what you are paying now. Yeah, but there’s a catch. They are not giving you the exact same coverage. If they did, their premiums would be the same as you are paying now, perhaps even higher. And so it will be with health insurance.

America is truly the land of milk and honey ….. but not for all, with many struggling just to keep a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs and clothes on their backs. I’m all for the free market but when it comes to health care the free market with its high insurance premiums will drive those who can’t afford them to the emergency rooms rather than to a physician. And who is going to end up paying for that? Why it’s going to be those who are more fortunate. If you think hospital bills are high now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Some conservatives want to abolish Medicare and Medicaid which they condemn as socialized medicine, and welfare which to them represents socialism. Apparently they believe the tooth fairy is going to dump tons of coins under the pillows of every middle class and poor member of our society. America is a very charitable country, but private charities and churches will not by any stretch of the imagination be able to meet the needs of those who would lose Medicare, Medicaid and welfare.

Conservatives who want to abolish those government lifelines remind me of Marie Antoinette. Whether the French Queen actually said it or not, folklore has it when Marie was informed that the poor had no bread, she exclaimed “Qu'ils mangent de la brioche,” which translates to “Let them eat cake.”

I am well aware there is a lot of fraud in our welfare programs. But abolishing welfare is like throwing the baby out with the dirty bath water. There are many people in dire need of assistance. A good number of those have brought their plight upon themselves. But are we going to ‘Marie Antoinette’ them because they fucked up?

That’s why I call those conservatives who want to abolish Medicare, Medicaid and welfare, ‘Qu'ils mangent de la brioche conservatives’ or if you prefer, ‘Let them eat cake conservatives’.

I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Both parties stink like shit. I am an independent conservative, but not an ideologue or doctrinaire. On fiscal issues I am a conservative, but on social issues I consider myself a moderate. I’m certainly not about to flush the poor down the shitter.

While I’m in favor of doing away with Obamacare, some aspects of that law are not bad. Nor is everything liberals espouse evil. I don’t know what the solution to our fucked up health care system is, but I have absolutely no confidence Congress can find it, no matter which party is in control.

If the Republicans want to abolish Obamacare, they better do it in the next 18 months. It looks like the midterm Congressional elections will be disastrous for the Republicans. In order for the current Senate to pass their version of the healthcare act, they will have to have some bipartisan support. But any such bill will never be acceptable to the ‘Qu'ils mangent de la brioche conservatives’ in the House.