{"id":3262,"date":"2020-09-16T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T14:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=3262"},"modified":"2020-09-16T10:08:06","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T14:08:06","slug":"pig-in-a-poke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/09\/16\/pig-in-a-poke\/","title":{"rendered":"Pig in a Poke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is an old saying \u2013\u201cnever buy a pig in a poke\u201d.  Of course, to understand the saying, you have to know what a \u201cpoke\u201d is.  A \u201cpoke\u201d is an Old English term for a kind of bag.  If you buy a pig in a \u201cpoke\u201d, you are buying the pig without seeing it.  You trust the seller that the pig lives up to the sales pitch, but if you don\u2019t open the \u201cpoke\u201d, you won\u2019t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While the current Presidential campaign seems high on rhetoric and low on facts, on one issue of particular importance to Americans there is a clear \u201cpig in a poke\u201d.  Joe Biden has put a detailed health care plan \u201con the table<\/a>\u201d.  He wants to use the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid as the structure to expand greater health care benefits to Americans.  He wants to use the powers of the Congress to gain control of the cost of pharmaceuticals.  And he has a goal that every American will have access to health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden makes it clear:  there is no \u201cfree\u201d healthcare.  He wants access to good healthcare to be an American \u201cright\u201d rather than a privilege of employment.  The Biden plan includes a \u201cpublic option\u201d, a Federal insurance program as well as private for-profit plans.  He\u2019s not demanding that Americans give up their private health insurance, but that we recognize that not everyone has access to it, especially in an economy with high unemployment, and our current world of the \u201cgig\u201d economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know where Biden stands on this issue.  The disadvantage of putting out a \u201cplan\u201d is that it is open to analysis, criticism.  Each particular point can be picked apart.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump Offer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

President Trump has promised a comprehensive healthcare plan for years.\u00a0\u00a0In the past few months, he\u2019s promised a \u201cplan in the next couple of weeks\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But so far, his sole plan is headlined \u201crepeal Obamacare\u201d and then he\u2019ll figure out the rest later.\u00a0\u00a0An internet search for the Trump healthcare plan brings up\u00a0several attacks<\/a>\u00a0on the Affordable Care Act, but when you find an address on the Trump Campaign website dealing with healthcare, you instead are sent to a \u201clost\u201d page featuring Joe Biden:\u00a0donaldjtrump.com\/positions\/healthcare-reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President has had four years to develop a comprehensive healthcare plan.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s even had three years since the famous John McCain \u201cthumbs down\u201d vote that saved the Affordable Care Act.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, the Trump Administration has continued to look forward to a \u201cgreat healthcare plan\u201d without ever putting any details in front of the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhetoric<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many Americans are tired of the rhetoric.  They claim they want to decide their Presidential vote based on \u201cthe issues\u201d, not the personalities. \u201cSure, President Trump Tweets a whole lot of distasteful things, but look what he can accomplish,\u201d we constantly hear.  But here\u2019s the problem:  we don\u2019t know what the Trump healthcare plan is, other than \u201cNot Obamacare\u201d.  So we can\u2019t decide on the issues, because there are no alternative plans.  There\u2019s simply a detailed Biden plan, and \u201cnot that one\u201d from Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President is offering the American people \u201ca pig in a poke\u201d.  If there\u2019s no detailed plan, then there\u2019s no target for criticism.  But what we do know is this: the President constantly saying that he would protect \u201cpre-existing conditions\u201d.  But in fact, the Trump Justice Department is currently in the Supreme Court trying to have the Affordable Care Act ruled unconstitutional.  The net effect of that is to go back to \u201cbefore\u201d the Affordable Care Act, when those with pre-existing conditions could be charged higher rates for insurance, or denied insurance altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decide<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first thing to do is get past the rhetoric.  No one is offering \u201cfree\u201d healthcare, and no one is saying Americans should \u201cdie in the streets\u201d.  What we do have is a relatively detailed plan from the Biden campaign, and no plan at all from the Trump campaign.  And we have that in the middle of a national pandemic, when testing for COVID-19, and ultimately administering a vaccine, is a costly and important healthcare action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So examine the Biden plan.\u00a0\u00a0And if you don\u2019t like it, keep in mind that you don\u2019t have the option of knowing what the Trump plan is.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t hold your breath waiting for it either, you\u2019ll just need healthcare from lack of oxygen.\u00a0\u00a0There is no incentive for the Trump Campaign to put out a plan:\u00a0\u00a0it will just become another target.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all a salesman\u2019s pitch:\u00a0\u00a0\u201ctrust me, it\u2019ll be a \u2018great\u2019 plan”. It\u2019s a \u201cpig in a poke\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an old saying \u2013\u201cnever buy a pig in a poke\u201d.  Of course, to understand the saying, you have to know what a \u201cpoke\u201d is.  A \u201cpoke\u201d is an Old English term for a kind of bag.  If you buy a pig in a \u201cpoke\u201d, you are buying the pig without seeing it.  You trust the seller that … Continue reading “Pig in a Poke”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPig in a Poke : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to know where the candidates stand on issues like healthcare? 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