Monday, April 08, 2013

Questions and (Non)Answers

Yes, I owe you a book review. No, I have not finished the book yet. Yes, I realize it's been seven months since I made that promise or last posted. It's been a long and busy seven months.

Sigh.

Today I had the interesting opportunity to hear a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, specifically the representative from Ohio's Second Congressional District, talk about a number of topics, but mostly the evils of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the necessity that it be repealed. Over the course of his talk and as a response to various questions, Rep. Wenstrup made a number of decent points highlighting some of the many deficiencies in Obamacare. Problems or perceived problems with this legislation are legion, and a simple Google search will undoubtedly help you find many of them, so I won't take the time to go over them here. It was a pretty typical litany, but the issue I eventually took with his opposition is that he didn't offer any viable alternative.



This is a problem I have with congress on a frequent basis. Any time legislation is being proposed on almost any topic, the opposition party feels the need to point out every potential problem with the legislation, no matter how minute, and to disqualify the bill. This is a necessary part of the legislative process and I don't specifically disagree with it. However, in any situation where legislation is addressing a legitimate problem (e.g. the Affordable Care Act and the fact that millions of Americans lack any sort of health coverage) wouldn't it make sense to offer an alternative?

After listening to the Congressman talk about nebulous ideas like tort reform (to limit potential liabilities for doctors and help rein in health care costs), how bad Medicare is, and "market solutions" I decided to ask the Congressman for specifics. Surely, if Obamacare is so bad and our situation is so dire, Republicans have a master plan to save us, right?

My question to Rep. Wenstrup was essentially stated: We have a problem, the current system isn't working, health care costs are going up, people aren't covered or getting treatment, what's the proposed alternative? He replied with a reorganized answer based on his talking points above and went on a tangent about the ACA hurting the economy by discouraging job growth. I followed up asking for specific legislation that not only would repeal the ACA, but actively replace it with something. He made references to vague pieces of legislation that he said wouldn't get passed, taking a shot at the Senate. I pressed him for a specific piece of legislation that offered a viable alternative. He begged off as having "only been on the job for three months". Fair enough.

I would rather have imperfect legislation in place that can help people than nothing at all. Legislation can be altered. We seem to worry as a country that as soon as a law is passed it will be forever and that it's an all or nothing proposition. It's like saying you have a car that you want to put an engine in. The engine has a number of things wrong with it, many of which will require maintenance soon, replacement, or just overhauling in general. However, you need a vehicle. Don't tell me that you're going to take away the engine because it's bad but not help me find a new one, or, in this case, allude to an engine that may or may not exist.

In evangelical terms: it's going to be much easier to convince me to reject the devil if you offer Jesus as an alternative.

Come on Republicans. Supposedly you have a great plan, but I haven't seen anything other than anti-Obamacare. Give me something to be for and not just something to be against. If the free market were capable of solving this situation, don't you think it would have done so by now?

Oh, and if you're a brand new Congressman, one who wants to actually serve the people, why not give me a real answer? I would like to think that most people, me included, would respect a man who would say "I don't know" rather than giving a political non-answer, designed to wedge your unrelated talking points into a sentence that is more a distraction than an answer.


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