One of President #Donald Trump’s promises on the campaign trail was to repeal Obamacare and the promise came with a generic guarantee that there would be a replacement. His insistence that the ACA be repealed immediately without a replacement is causing problems for Republican Congressmen and Senators. As he prepares his agenda for this week where Obamacare will surely have a place, how many Republicans will follow him blindly?
Worries
There is something wrong when politicians are scared to face their constituents and that is happening in many centres around the United States as Republican politicians struggle to contain the protests against the repeal of Obamacare.
Newspapers such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and Huffington Post have given regular reports recently of heated #town hall meetings between Republican politicians and their constituents worried about the upcoming repeal of the affordable care act.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was not only politician who felt the sting of constituents worried that they could no longer afford health insurance or that they would not be covered for pre-existing conditions.
Senator Ted Cruz was so worried about the reaction to the repeal that he did not attend a town hall meeting and raised even more the ire of his constituents in Houston who demanded that he answer their worries about the effects of the repeal.
He is not the only Republican to avoid such encounters.
Most important consideration
While the Act was looked upon in disdain when it was originally introduced, even by large sections of the population, in the years of its operations many citizens were able to take advantage of its provisions to undertake cures that they previously could not afford.
Now that the repeal is getting closer many citizens who previously were opposed to it are finding themselves with the real prospect that they will no longer be covered.
Health is the most important and sensitive issue of the lives of many people and so a vague promise during a presidential campaign has become a source of worry for large parts of the populations and a cause of even more embarrassment and concern for those politicians who will vote to repeal it against the wishes of their constituents.
Side effect
There is something wrong when politicians are unwilling to face to those who elected them. Congressmen and Senators are elected to represent their citizens and have an ethical obligation to hear their views on matters under discussion in the House or the Senate.
The proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act has had an unexpected side effect. The Town Hall Meetings are regularly showing that the Republican representatives are scared to address the worries of their constituents.
If they do not act within their duties and responsibilities, how long will it be before those who previously voted for them will consider voting for other candidates? The day is quickly coming that the Republicans will understand that their behaviour may well cost them their positions of privilege.
Are they willing to pay this price to satisfy their President’s campaign promise?
