We’re expecting Rep. Roger Marshall to secure the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate.
Now completing his second term in Congress, Marshall has voted in lockstep with President Trump’s agenda and should be able to expect his blessing for the Senate race — though that has yet to materialize.
As a physician, Marshall makes a point of speaking about healthcare. And while we have no doubt he’s a dedicated practitioner, his vision for the U.S. system is lackluster.
Like most Republicans, Marshall advocates repealing the Affordable Care Act. And, like most Republicans, fails to say with what. After four years of a Republican administration and a lock on the Senate, the question begs, “what are you waiting for?”
So far, Marshall will only venture tepid platitudes, saying U.S. healthcare should be “transparent,” “encourage innovation” and “empower patients.”
Marshall’s tone gathers strength, however, when he predicts what healthcare would look like under a Democratic administration: Socialist (of course); fund abortions, rob Americans of their current insurance and ration healthcare.
LET’S TAKE his last claim first.
Healthcare in the U.S. is already rationed.
Sadly, only those with means or those who qualify for government assistance receive health benefits. That leaves roughly 27.5 million Americans — mostly the working poor — left out.
Joe Biden, the presumptive presidential Democratic nominee, has proposed a public insurance option so that the 8.5% of Americans who fall through the cracks have a chance at affordable health insurance. This is especially important now that an estimated 27 million Americans have lost their job-based coverage due to the pandemic.
One bit of good news — and a testament to the Affordable Care Act — is that about 487,000 people have recently signed up with HealthCare.gov after losing their workplace coverage. That’s an increase of 46% from the same time period last year.
Biden’s plan would also automatically enroll everyone who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid but isn’t because their state, like Kansas, refused to accept the expansion.
For Kansas, that would provide an estimated 150,000 with health benefits.
For the record, wanting to provide all Americans with health insurance is a far stretch from socialism, as Marshall claims.
Democrats are not suggesting that the government pay all the bills, own the health facilities, and employ the health professionals who work there.
Even the liberals’ “Medicare for All” only goes so far as covering patient expenses, as today’s senior citizens enjoy, leaving the delivery of healthcare in private hands.
Marshall’s other claims that senior citizens should be afraid and that federal funds would be used to fund abortions under Democrats are nothing but fear-mongering. In fact, it’s Republicans, not Democrats, eying deficit fears as an excuse to cut entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. As for funding abortion, that’s been banned since 1976 through the Hyde Amendment.
