{"id":1306,"date":"2020-10-25T19:41:59","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T02:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1306"},"modified":"2020-10-25T19:41:59","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T02:41:59","slug":"what-are-you-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1306","title":{"rendered":"What Are You Thinking?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As a former elected representative, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out just what the masses I was supposed to represent were thinking. I\u2019ll admit, a lot of the time I thought their thinking didn\u2019t make a lot of sense, but I still thought it was my duty to understand their thinking. If you think of representative government as a contest of opposing or varied ideas, and the election winner takes the trophy (\u201cElections have consequences\u201d Barack Obama 2009), then understanding the thinking of those you represent is wasted time; just vote for those who elected you, not the people you represent. I just didn\u2019t see the job that way. Maybe that\u2019s why I didn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I am currently struggling to understand just what Americans, but more Idahoans, my neighbors want from health care. Help me out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent poll<\/a> showed most people don\u2019t want the Affordable Care Act\u2019s protections of \u201cpreexisting conditions\u201d repealed. That means, if you have a preexisting (expensive) health condition, health insurance companies can\u2019t refuse to sell you insurance or increase your rates based on their assessment of your future risk to their bottom line. Even 66% of Republicans (91% of Democrats) thought the preexisting condition protection should be maintained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if asked more broadly, \u201cshould the ACA be repealed\u201d, 76% of Republicans said YES! REPEAL!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So please, tell me: what are you thinking?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is of course made more critical in the coming election, but also the Supreme Court appointment shooting through the Senate like goose droppings. The hope from Trump, and I guess, from Republicans, is that the nominee can sit for and vote on the case that will be heard a week after the election brought by Republican state attorneys general and supported by our Presidents Department of Justice. The suit asks to declare the ACA unconstitutional, even though they have zeroed out the individual mandate penalty in their \u201cBillionaires Benefits Tax Bill\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Republicans<\/a>  want to distance themselves from the possibility that the preexisting conditions limitations might disappear. They argue that through \u201cseverability\u201d SCOTUS can wipe out some of the ACA, but not the other parts that we like. I find it fascinating that these elected representatives want appointed-for-life judges, not accountable to the voters, to be making these decisions. It\u2019s like they\u2019re afraid to have the discussion. Is that possible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I want to ask you, my Republican neighbors, to answer some questions: just what should healthcare look like in this country? Can you please give me a clue?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have spent a short time reading the National Republican Platform<\/a>, and a little longer reading the Idaho one<\/a>. In short, the National platform says, \u201cwhatever Trump says\u201d. But the state one is a bit more specific, even if it\u2019s on page 10, after Article 12 (Economy) and before article 14 (American Family). Maybe 13 is health care\u2019s lucky number for Idaho Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I encourage you to read this platform that 80% of Idaho legislators endorse. It could explain why we aren\u2019t talking about this problem. It pretty much says, health care should be affordable, government shouldn\u2019t regulate things, and people should be responsible for their own health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I think Idaho Republicans are telling me the next time I\u2019m in a hurry and fall off a ladder and end up a quadriplegic, I should have been more responsible. I agree, I shouldn\u2019t have been in a hurry, I contributed to my injury, but I now must sell my house if I want to keep alive? What if I\u2019d been T-boned by a drunk driver? No mercy there either I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a tough discussion. We should be having it with our elected representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Idaho Republican solution to our health care dilemma is to go back to the 19th<\/sup> century, I can\u2019t support it. But I\u2019d sure appreciate a discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a former elected representative, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out just what the masses I was supposed to represent were thinking. I\u2019ll admit, a lot of the time I thought their thinking didn\u2019t make a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1308,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306\/revisions\/1308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}