July 18, 2017--John McCain Would Already Be Dead

He would already be dead from his sub-dural hematoma if it weren't for his platinum senatorial health care plan which assures that he will be treated in the best hospitals and taken care of by the best doctors at virtually no out-of-pocket expense.

He's 80 years old, has a number of serious preconditions, including melanoma, and still suffers from various medical problems that are the result of his being held for six years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

In other circumstances, if he had a job that didn't offer benefits, in the absence of Obamacare, if he needed to buy insurance in the free market Republicans revere, he would be refused coverage by insurance companies thinking only of their bottom lines. It would cost him at least $30,000 a year and he would have a deductible of tens of thousands of dollars.

And, if the bill currently before the Senate were to be approved and then passed in the House and signed by President Trump, he would not be able to secure any heath insurance at all. He would be among the tens of millions who will either lose their coverage or be unable to afford any.

Because of his current medical situation (he's recovering in Phoenix), the GOP Senate leadership is delaying the vote on its version of repeal-and-replace Obamacare legislation since they need McCain's assent to help assure there are enough votes to move it along in the process.

Here's my question--

Why would John McCain even for a minute think about voting for this nasty piece of legislation?

Again, he's 80 years old, is in his last term in the Senate, does not need anything from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and has a proud record of being a "maverick."

Some maverick.

In addition, we know he hates Donald Trump. Why would he want to be party to helping Trump have a cheap and mean-spirited political triumph?

Perhaps as he takes a few weeks off to recover from the cranial surgery he had over the weekend he'll think about those less fortunate than he and decide that 20 or so million cut from the health care rolls means that hundreds of thousands will die prematurely.

That's the real bottom line--thousands dying unnecessarily.

One last question--

Where are the plans for a five-million-person march on Washington to oppose the Republicans' dirty dealings? I suppose there isn't one because the people who have traditionally organized massive protests of this kind are in good shape with their employer- and government-sponsored coverage. If it doesn't affect me . . .

Who was it who said, "Let them eat cake"?