Rep. Webster:
I can understand your opposition to the recent legislation that Pres. Trump tried to get passed to replace the ACA. Certainly, it didn’t give everyone what they wanted. That is the essence of what he proposed – a compromise. It didn’t give the Democrats what they wanted, although it left a lot of their idealistic and unaffordable and unnecessary wishes in it. And it didn’t give you the extent of coverage you wanted for a PART of your constituency.
But, I really feel that you lost perspective and the broader picture here – what was really in play.
Trump worked hard to get SOMETHING that would appeal to many. The broad picture, I respectfully suggest, is to start the process of curtailing the massive costs of ACA. I would expect the Democrats to automatically oppose it – they oppose even though he was leaving in a lot of the factors they wanted. But, I would have expected you to have a broader perspective – to see where he is trying to go with health care reform. It is not just about Medicare or Medicaid costs, or particular coverage – it is about curtailing costs, so that broader tax reform and fiscal constraint can be accomplished. And thereby leave us a fiscal basis upon which to build a sustainable and truly AFFORDABLE health care system.
I believe that if his proposal had passed, we would come to see that there would still be reasonable coverage for most citizens. And, as his new and more reasonable system brought more citizens into the paying category, premium revenue would increase, costs would go down, and amendments could be tweaked in a year of so to take into account the deeper coverage you want.
Your blind opposition now means that not only will you not get the deeper coverage you wanted for part of your constituency, but the whole progress towards a more reasonable health care system, and fiscal responsibility through a better tax system and budgeting, is delayed and made more difficult.
So, while you might congratulate yourself on standing your ground and fighting for your principles – or whatever motivation you had – you must look in the mirror and see that you have really shafted yourself and the very constituents you were fighting for.
Please, open your mind to the broader picture. Reconsider your opposition to the compromise he worked out. Get it passed. And in the ground-swell that will follow, come back to the table as a respected enabler and fight in the next round for your particular goals. It’s not that they aren’t worthy goals – it’s just that you can’t move directly towards them until you get the massive “ship of state – health care” turned closer to a heading where they can be pursued.
Consult your fisherman friends that you refer to on your website… they know that when they are navigating out to their chosen fishing grounds, they must FIRST take the general heading that points them to the likely fishing grounds, THEN they fine-tune their location to the spot where they think the catch will be. If they are just clearing the breakwater, miles from the fishing grounds, and start squabbling about the precise and persnickety heading, when they don’t even know precisely where the catch might be in the conditions they will find on location, they will NEVER get to even the general area, let alone successful location to make the catch. It’s a matter of PERSPECTIVE.
Please reconsider your lack of perspective. Work with Trump to get the system onto a generally more affordable and more suitable heading, THEN go to battle for inclusion of your particular issues. Working thus to get onto a new heading to get to your goal is just as realistic as your constituents having to select a new heading in their boats. Their boats are not capable of instantly coming onto a new course, even though they are much more maneuverable than the massive monstrosity – the ACA – you are trying to change by tunnel-vision opposition.
David Jones
Village of Hemingway
