The nightmare of government-controlled health care will be closer to reality for the American people if the Democrats win in November.
Imagine having to wait endless hours to see someone at an emergency room at a dirty, understaffed hospital that is as much a risk to your health as the problem that brought you there. Imagine waiting weeks, if not months, for an appointment with a specialist. Imagine not being able to get the drugs or treatment you need because the bureaucrats — not doctors — who decide your medical fate have decreed that they are too expensive.
This is the horrific reality of government-controlled healthcare.
Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for all” is becoming more popular with the Democrat Party, despite the fact that government-run health care is a proven deadly disaster. The horrors of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and the failures of Obamacare — not to mention countless health service horror stories from countries like the United Kingdom and Canada — are testaments to this grim fact.
The list of VA system atrocities is a mile long. In 2015, it was reported that 307,000 veterans may have died waiting for their applications for care to be processed by the VA.
Before President Trump’s overhaul of the VA became law, it was reported that new patients had to wait an average of 18 days to see a doctor. An inspector general investigation found that conditions inside the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., were so horrific that patients faced imminent danger due to a lack of sanitary equipment.
Democrats want you to believe that socialist medicine is the best way to bring you the healthcare you need. But if the government can’t even take care of our veterans, what makes us think they’ll take care of the rest of us?
Democrats also refuse to admit the failures of Obamacare, another grim example of what happens when government interferes with healthcare.
Millions of people lost their doctors, consumers saw their premiums go up as much 116 percent, and deductibles went so high that one’s life literally had to be in danger before one could use the insurance.
The $1.76 trillion price tag of Obamacare has sent the national debt through the roof while the insurance companies raked in billions.
Yet Democrats persist, voting lockstep to preserve the Obamacare nightmare. They voted unanimously against President Trump’s plan to repeal Obamacare, and are pushing closer and closer to a single payer healthcare system — a plan the Urban Institute estimates will cost the U.S. taxpayers $32 trillion over the next decade.
For President Trump, this is unfathomable. That’s why he’s already taken steps to fix the problem and he is working with Congress to come up with an alternative plan.
The president has already repealed the disastrous Obamacare individual mandate, which is expected save American taxpayers $338 billion over the next 10 years.
President Trump then signed an executive order that seeks to allow insurance to be sold across state lines, giving small businesses and individual workers the right to explore all options when it comes to their own healthcare. The order specifically directed agencies to allow trade associations and other groups to offer their own health plans. These plans are exempt from Obamacare’s strict regulations and can be sold across state lines.
Trump also recently approved another rule that will allow people to purchase short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans for periods as long as 12 months. The new short-term plans will cost as little as $124 a month, compared with an average $393 for policies under the Obamacare requirements.
Americans know that our health care system is ill, but the Democrats’ proposed solution will make it terminal. Enormous costs, lengthy wait-times and downright dangerous conditions are the symptoms of a government takeover of healthcare. Trying to fix our healthcare system by implementing socialized medical care is like trying to cure a cold by taking arsenic.
The Democrats’ vision for health care will only make Americans sadder, sicker and poorer. Thankfully, we have President Trump’s leadership that’s now creating new options and reduced costs, but we also need to protect and expand the GOP majorities in the House and Senate to get the rest of the job done.
Americans have the power to prevent the Democrats’ next healthcare nightmare from becoming a reality — at the ballot box in November.
Mike Huckabee is a former Governor of Arkansas
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.