Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Simpson commentary was full of hyperbole


    Congressman Mike Simpson’s commentary titled “Obama broke promises on health care” contains so many inaccuracies, so much hyperbole, so many unsubstantiated and in some cases outright lies (such as, “only 35 percent of Americans support (it)”—actually polls show that a majority of Americans support either the ACA act or major portions of it, with reasonable revisions)—that it is difficult for me as an American and a physician to know where to begin to comment.  
    I’ll try one.  Simpson states that, “I continue to support delaying, defunding, reforming, or repealing it, and offering solutions to replace the law with real reforms to improve the health system for all Americans.”  Really?  Where were you and your Republican members during the healthcare debate several years ago?  What “solutions”—your word—did you offer then when you had the opportunity to influence the form of healthcare to be provided for those citizens who have/had been denied access, terminated because of exceeding limits, excluded from their parents’ policies when still younger than age 25 years? Why did and do you continue to offer only opposition to any policy that might have alleviated some of those wrongs, instead of being part of the solution?   I believe that the answer to that rhetorical question is—politics as usual.  Your distaste (probably too mild a term) for President Obama is so great that you would oppose anything that our elected president, or the Democratic Party, proposed.
    Now that a law, imperfect as it is, has been passed, you cry out that everything is “broken promises.”   Maybe, just maybe, you could see that providing healthcare to all Americans is a worthy goal, more important than satisfying the extremists in your party who are concerned primarily with not contributing anything for the common good, and are so fearful of government providing reasonable solutions to complex problems.  Cease the hypocrisy, Congressman Simpson, and become part of the solution.
Elliott Mercer, M.D.
Sun Valley






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