Bergman vote on Trumpcare wrong
Trumpcare passed by the US House 217-214. Thanks, Jack Bergman, for voting for the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in recent history. Trumpcare will put $346 billion in the clutches of individual making over $200,000 and families making over $250,000. But those fortunate persons are pikers when you see the corporate welfare that goes to insurance companies, drug companies and multi-millionaires. Millionaires, according to sources, will get $54,100 — double the per capita income of people in Dickinson County. The top 400 tax filers in the nation will get $7 million, paid for by cuts in Medicaid.
Cuts in Medicaid will hurt people in our county. Dickinson County, with 25,535 residents, has 3,471 people in poverty and 2,559 on food assistance. Medicaid in Dickinson County, according to the Green Book put out by Department of Health and Human Services, helps 4,221 Dickinson County citizens.
On the other hand, statistical reports show that 207 person, or 1.9 percent, in the county have incomes of $200,000 or over. These folks are to be congratulated for their good fortune, but what about the 3,471 persons in poverty whose Medicaid medical assistance will be impacted by Trumpcare?
What about mothers-to-be, if the Michigan discontinues maternity services from essential health benefits? What about the old, who may face a 500 percent run-up in insurance rates? What about the persons with pre-existing conditions who may be put into expensive high-risk pools — more like shark-infested pools — whose premiums will be unaffordable for persons in a county with a 12.3 percent poverty rate?
Jack Bergman’s vote for Trumpcare ill serves the needs of Dickinson County. He should have listened to The Donald, who after the vote told the Australian Prime Minister Turnbull that “You have a better health care system than we do.” Australia certainly does and perhaps Rep. Bergman should study it before he votes again to make health care more difficult for the poor, blind, aged and disabled in Dickinson County.