Tag Archives: Congress

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) blog, Asian Americans, blog, diversity, news, politics

Emil Guillermo: Trump praises Australia’s single-payer plan after taking victory lap for passing sub-standard Trump-No-Care.

“You have better health care than we do!”

So said Donald Trump to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

One problem. Australia’s great system is essentially a universal care, national system that takes care of its people.

TrumpNoCare does the exact opposite. He lets healthy young people and rich people off the hook. No more mandatory insurance, but that’s precisely why premiums will go up. Insurance is based on large pools so that risks are spread. When you don’t require young healthy people or rich people to buy insurance and broaden the pool, then those who will suffer are the sick, the poor, the middle class and the elderly. That is to say, most of America.

Unless we get a system like Australia.

Listen to my podcast, Emil Amok’s Takeout:

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Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) blog, Asian Americans, blog, diversity, news, politics

Emil Guillermo: Trump Failure on Obamacare a Victory for the People

Embed from Getty Images

Repeal and Replace?

Not the Donald, though maybe that will come in time, sooner than we think.

But today’s failure is epic.

Turns out you can say no to the Donald.

The president who was seeking to take away health care from 24 million people just couldn’t get the deal done.

The man who prides himself in being the master negotiator couldn’t  get the majority of Congress to commit what I call “medically-assisted political suicide.”

And in the end, even the president had to realize it was better to cut his losses and pull the bill before a vote.

Immediately, he started to blame the Democrats. But for what?

For making sure that millions stay insured with essential health care they need?

“Let Obamacare explode,” Trump said from the White House after the aborted vote.

Fact is, Obamacare is not exploding. No doubt there  are problems with ACA, but mostly it’s due to the insurance and drug companies that want to assure profitability rather than people’s health. That’s one area that needs fixing. Under a more universal broad pool, with the largest possible number of insureds who can spread the risks of health care, Obamacare would work better.  That would be an emulation of Medicare, a single-payer plan. That’s the answer to many of the problems with ACA.

Republicans don’t like to admit that Obamacare was a compromise to begin with. And now it’s working like a compromise, with some people upset, and many happy they finally have some coverage.

But how do you control costs? Or streamline it?

The replacement, Trumpcare, wouldn’t have done any of that.

It would have cut off care and insureds and  decimated everything, It would have left the country in a bigger health care mess than you can imagine.

It’s a costly lesson for Trump who is learning that you can’t run the country like a business.

Profit and dollars aren’t  everything.

You have to care about the people.

In the end, it was their voices as happy Obamacare consumers that mattered the most.

 

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) blog, blog, diversity, news, politics, race

Emil Guillermo: Pope’s-eye-view of America: “I too am a son of this great continent…” See what else Congress should agree on.

The pope’s view of America after speaking to Congress.
While he spoke specifically on topics like economic inequality, the environment, prison reform, and the military, there was something more general that members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, of whatever faith, should be able to agree on.
Pope Francis:  “You are the face of its people, their representatives. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you…”
“Today I would like not only to address you, but through you the entire people of the United States. Here, together with their representatives, I would like to take this opportunity to dialogue with the many thousands of men and women who strive each day to do an honest day’s work, to bring home their daily bread, to save money and – one step at a time – to build a better life for their families. These are men and women who are not concerned simply with paying their taxes, but in their own quiet way sustain the life of society. They generate solidarity by their actions, and they create organizations which offer a helping hand to those most in need.”
See my story on NBC News.com and how it impacted a freshman legislator.
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) blog, blog, diversity, news, politics

Emil Guillermo: Pope’s historical address to Congress? Not “State of the Union,” I call it a “State of the Soul” address; Four icons, and a big shout out for climate change activists.

 

Moved by the pope as I live tweeted.

Francis  mentioned four American icons: Lincoln, MLK, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.

Congress cheered the first two–but seemed in the dark about the two Catholics mentioned.  Day was a legendary journalist and activist for the poor. A lay person who is now being considered for sainthood, Day fought for social justice issues in a completely self-less way.  In many ways, Francis in his ways, is much like Day. Merton  was a Trappist monk who encouraged openness, dialogue. And that was the hopeful idea of Francis to Congress–that there is a way out of the divisive, polarizing politics of the day, that could lead us to a consensus for the common good.

Rep. Ted Lieu of California described the  room as electric when the pope was introduced. Lieu, a climate change activist, was encouraged by the support the pope’s urging that something must be done to protect the earth, “our common home.”

Read my story on NBC News.com