Trump Lies, Becchi Swears To It

Trump Lies, Becchi Swears to It.

In his State of The Union address, President Trump pledged to protect health coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions, saying “I've also made an ironclad pledge to American families, we will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions." But this claim is directly opposite his administration's supporting a lawsuit that would overturn the entire Affordable Care Act, gutting critical consumer protections and re-establishing pre-existing condition limitations ,life-time caps, and astronomically high deductibles.

It is the perpetuation of one of his most outrageous lies if only because of the unabashed and unrelenting effort that the Republicans have put behind destroying the Affordable Care Act. They have attempted to repeal, modify or otherwise curb the Affordable Care Act over 70 times since its inception March 2010.

Currently, the Trump administration’s Depart of Justice is in favor a federal judge's ruling that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional due to issues surrounding the individual mandate penalty that requires people to have health insurance. The case is due to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. If it succeeds, tens of millions of people could lose their health insurance as a result of eliminating the law's coverage expansions and protections for Americans.

Republican candidate for NJ Congressional District 11, Rosemary Becchi, put out a wide-ranging statement supporting Trump’s SOTU address. Among her positions is the continued red herring of Republican healthcare reform: "This is the time to tackle the rising cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, and the practice of surprise medical billing — and we can do it by demanding accountability, transparency and by expanding markets for research, development and insurance coverage," said Becchi.

These are merely a set of insufficient talking points which have failed to manifest a comprehensive and sustainable plan for the Republican’s 10-year-old obsession with “Repeal and Replace.” Further, Becchi’s urging for accountability surrounding prescription drugs is disingenuous at best, as she makes no mention of the Democratic-led House has passed HR3, a bill that specifies measures to contain the cost of prescription drugs which is languishing in the Senate where Leader McConnell refuses to put it up for a vote.

Effective healthcare management is fundamental to an effectively functioning democracy. Americans must demand representation that is grounded in truth to deal productively with this, and every any other critical issue facing our nation. It is our only hope going forward.