By Solomon Jones
Philadelphia Daily News
In a long-awaited report on the Republican health-care plan, the Congressional Budget Office said the plan would shrink the federal deficit by $337 billion by 2026, partly by leaving 24 million Americans uninsured.
That’s because the savings would come from shrinking Medicaid, the federal program that allows poor Americans to get health care they otherwise couldn’t afford. At the same time, the plan would charge seniors higher rates.
There is, however, one group that wins in all this. Wealthy Americans would get a $600 billion tax cut over 10 years.
In other words, Trumpcare — a billionaire’s plan designed to help those in his own financial strata — is Robin Hood in reverse. It robs from the poor and gives to the rich.
Worst of all, every American should have seen this coming. Especially the white working-class voters who believed President Trump would somehow change their fortunes for the better.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that so many in the white working class were so blinded by Trump’s openly racist rhetoric that they were willing to ignore his disdain for American workers. I suppose I shouldn’t be befuddled that after eight years of a black president, white voters banded together to vote in a man who prioritized money over everyday people.
When Trump promised to rid the country of undocumented Mexicans, ban Muslims and prioritize the comfort of police over the cries of brutality against unarmed people of color, white voters who claimed they felt left behind rallied behind him.
But in doing so, they allowed Trump’s rhetoric on race to mask a troubling truth.
Trump’s policies are not exclusively about dividing us by race. They also are about dividing us by class.
I suspect the upper-class interests that Trump and the Republican-dominated Congress represent don’t care whether Americans are white, black or brown. They care about enriching themselves at the expense of the workers, the poor and the feeble.
Under the House GOP plan that many have dubbed Trumpcare, Medicaid spending would be reduced by $880 billion by 2026. Cutting the government-funded health plan that cares for the poorest among us, along with allowing insurance companies to charge old people five times more than they charge young people creates the $337 billion deficit reduction Republicans are touting.
And all it costs us is our souls.
That’s because Trumpcare goes beyond hurting the poor and the feeble. It also puts an unfair burden on working people.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck and an emergency expense forces you to cancel your health insurance for two months or more, Trumpcare allows insurance companies to charge you 30 percent more when you come back.
If you dropped the insurance because you couldn’t afford it in the first place, what makes House Republicans think you would be able to pay more when you come back?
And what would possess a president who claims to be a champion of working people to back such a thing?
Trump’s history should give us some insight into that question. In truth, Trumpcare’s abandonment of working people falls right in line with what Trump did in his business career. It shafts the little guy for the benefit of the rich.
None of this should come as a surprise.
We all knew Trump had a reputation for stiffing hardworking Americans such as J. Michael Diehl, a music company owner who was forced to take a 30 percent hit on a $100,000 piano sale to the now-shuttered Trump Taj Mahal. According to Diehl, Trump’s company dragged out the payment process for months after he delivered the product. Diehl eventually was forced to accept Trump’s take-it-or-leave-it offer of 70 cents on the dollar.
We also knew that, even as Trump criticized other companies for shipping jobs overseas, his lines of clothing and hotel accessories were made in 12 foreign countries — including his two favorite international foils, China and Mexico.
I suspect Trump’s rhetoric on race, religion and ethnicity is a means to an end. By making white voters believe they are separate from everyone else, he and the billionaires in his Cabinet can go about shaping a government that benefits the rich.
While undocumented brown people are deported, or unarmed black people are shot, or brown Muslims are banned, the white voters who support Trump are victimized, as well.
But they’re so focused on everyone else that it’s hard for them to see the truth. Hopefully, the CBO numbers on Trumpcare will change that.
Because here’s the truth: Trump might be talking about targeting people of color, but in pushing a plan that will cause 24 million Americans to lose health care, he’s hurting white people, too.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Solomon Jones is a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. Readers may email him at sj@solomonjones.com.
