Paul Giorgio: Republicans Hit A New Low

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Paul Giorgio, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER

Monday at midnight the government shut down. Not since Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich tried this tactic 17 years ago, has anyone acted so irresponsibly. The Republicans were wrong then and they are wrong now. They paid dearly at the polls in the following election. In a recent Quinnipiac Poll 72% of Americans oppose the shutdown over Obamacare.

Speaker John Boehner will do anything to hold on to his job, including caving in to the radical right of the Republican Party in the House. Boehner is no profile in courage. He is constantly looking over his shoulder at Majority Leader Eric Cantor and the Tea Party Republicans, who have held our nation hostage for too long.

Why are they hell bent on this shutdown? Because they want to kill the Affordable Healthcare Act before the public realizes how good it will be. You see the Affordable Healthcare Act or Obamacare kicked in on October 1, the beginning of the Federal Fiscal Year.

Since its passage in 2010, Republicans have tried 45 times to kill the law. Why? Because they know it is good for families and bad for the Insurance industry and big Pharma.

Who is affected by the shutdown? Every family or child who wants to visit a National Park or our Nation’s Capital will find a closed sign hanging out. Every person who wants to travel won’t be able to get a passport. No IRS refunds will be processed. Social Security checks will be mailed but no new claims will be processed. Veterans will find it more difficult to get their benefits approved. PX’s on military bases will be shut as will services to active military personnel.

What ways are the people of Worcester effected? Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School will grind to a halt. Research at WPI that is helping our military will stop. The Veteran’s Administration clinic will close.

This is happening because the radical right and the Republicans are dead set against improving healthcare in this country. They like it just fine that the Insurance companies rake in millions, while denying millions of Americans coverage.

Now we in Massachusetts won’t feel the effects of the Affordable Healthcare Act, because we have had it since Mitt Romney was Governor.

Let’s look at what the Affordable Healthcare Act does for ordinary Americans: It eliminates the exclusion on preexisting conditions. Pregnancy is no longer a preexisting condition, and domestic abuse is no longer a preexisting condition. It ends the lifetime cap on medical coverage. It gets Americans out of expensive emergency rooms. It eliminates the donut hole drug benefit for seniors and it expands their coverage. It eliminates the copay for preventative healthcare. It improves the insolvency of Medicare.

Lastly companies with fewer than 50 employees are not affected and have no mandates.

No, the Republicans would rather injure our still fragile economy, rather than provide Americans with healthcare. The stock market has lost over 5% of its value in the past week, affecting millions of 401K retirement plans of ordinary Americans.

We can only hope that more rational members of the Republican Party will prevail and see the folly in what the Tea Party Radicals are doing to the nation’s economy.

We just went through a National Election where we re-elected Barack Obama President by over 5 million votes. A central theme of that campaign was Affordable Healthcare. American voters have spoken on this issue in a loud voice--they want healthcare coverage.

It is time that the Republican obstructionists end their games.

End the shutdown, raise the debt ceiling and let Obamacare provide healthcare for millions of Americans.

Paul Giorgio is a longtime Democratic Party Activist who has worked on numerous campaigns. He was a Lead Advance Person for President Clinton & Vice President Gore. He was Deputy Director of Special Events for President Clinton’s first Inauguration. He has been elected a delegate to numerous Democratic National Conventions and recently served as one of President Obama’s representatives on the Platform Committee. In 2013 he was chosen as a Presidential Elector. He is the President of Pagio, Inc., publishers of Pulse Magazine, Vitality Magazine and Worcester Medicine.