Pants On Fire

Citizen: "How dumb do those politicians think we are?"
Pug Mahoney: "Very."

   When you say something strange enough, loud enough, long enough, to enough people and you attack anyone who disagrees, soon many people will begin to believe you. Or at least be afraid to disagree.
   It's called the Big Lie Technique, and this is how dictatorships begin.

   The Whine House and its supporters claim that under current law, people "don't have the ability to shop around" for health insurance, to quote spokesman Sean Spicer, who added that with Trumpcare, companies and customers will be able to cross state lines when signing up for policies.
   News flash. That's possible now, and has been for years. For example, a couple in Pennsylvania can have a policy from Mutual of Omaha (last I heard, that company is in Nebraska), and another from United HealthCare, based in Atlanta. For those weak in geography, that's in Georgia.
   And in rejecting the conclusions and estimates of the Congressional Budget Office, Spicer called the agency "consistently wrong."
   If that be so, perhaps Congress should abolish the CBO, thus saving money on research and advice for government officials considering new legislation.
   Spicer also claimed the CBO estimated a 10 percent reduction in health care premiums. Correction: What the bipartisan experts said was that premium increases would fade by 10 percent. That is, instead of rising 5.5 percent, costs would go up by 5.0 percent.  That's not a decrease, but a slower increase. And in other contexts, where will be substantial increases as well a sharp drop in the number of people covered.
      
   Another tactic employed by backers of Trumpcare is criticizing the idea of a "mandate" that every have a health care policy, implying that a mandate is inherently evil, and government has no right to interfere in people's lives, telling them what to do.
   Another news flash: There are already many government laws that mandate action by citizens. For example, those who own cars must buy auto insurance. Drivers must have licenses. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, bankers, stock brokers, real estate brokers, pharmacists, railway engineers, airline pilots, plumbers and electricians also are required to have licenses.
   As for mandatory insurance programs run by government programs, there is unemployment insurance, Social Security retirement funds, and Medicare health insurance for retirees, all paid for through payroll deductions while folks are working.
   And when it comes to government "interfering" in people's lives, telling then what they can and cannot do, consider zoning laws, building codes, traffic laws, food and drug quality standards, plus environmental and anti-pollution laws.
   In short, without government there be chaos.
   With government there can be universal health care at reasonable cost to citizens and reasonable compensation to practitioners. Else there be greed.
   The U.S. is the only major developed country without universal health care. Candidate Donald Trump promised during the campaign that he would make it so. Now he waffles.
   Time was, some say, that such programs did not exist, and this is true. It is also true that at that time people died a lot.
   Pug Mahoney's advice to politicians is this: When your pants are on fire, you get burned.