We’ll see what the Trumpcare vote today brings, but, one way or the other, the writing is on the (border?) wall: if Republicans remain in control of Congress, sooner rather than later, things like mental healthcare, drug treatment and maternity care will no longer be covered under the mean-spirited provisions of Trumpcare.
Much can be said about the epidemic of opiate abuse and mental health collapse that inconveniently characterize the population upon which Trumpcare may be unleashed; but for the moment, I would just like to consider the irony of defunding both maternity care and Planned Parenthood.
The very same people who would eliminate access to abortion and, in some cases, even birth control, are insisting that maternity care not be covered in any public health insurance policy.
Abortion statistics indicate that in 23% of cases, the decision to abort is due to a lack of financial means.
According to CNN, the cost of having a baby in 2017 is roughly $15,000. Under Obamacare, much of that cost is covered. If the “House Freedom Caucus” finally has its way, the number of women seeking abortions for financial reasons is likely to substantially increase.
You would think this would have occurred to someone in the oxymoronically named Freedom Caucus, but if it has, you’d never know it.
The same people who are always so eager to make women’s decisions about their bodies for them, insisting that life is precious from the moment of conception, don’t appear to give a hang about what happens to human beings after they leave the womb. They’re ready to cut nutrition programs, wellness programs, public education, domestic violence interventions…anything to save tax dollars for the rich.
Just as the “Freedom Caucus’ ” interest in babies ends when they leave the womb; it continues to diminish until, as those babies reach age 55, they are happy to see people who should be saving for their retirement get hit with ballooning health insurance costs.
It’s no coincidence that both Medicare and Social Security are under threat of imminent attack from the same bunch of cold hearted bastards.
Welcome to the world of Republican rule.