Why Republicans Don’t Care if Millions Lose Their Health Care – Care2.com

President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans are currently scrambling to push through the American Health Care Act,or Trumpcare, despite resistance from Democrats.

Although the Senate is still struggling to find support for the bill, with votingpostponeduntil after the Fourth of July holiday, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Mitch McConnell remain committed to replacingthe Affordable Care Act.

Recently, the Congressional Budget Office released a report showing that, under the American Health Care Act, up to 15 million Americans will find themselves without health insurance next year. By 2026, that number will grow to 22 million.

Critics of the bill have not minced words, lambasting the proposed legislationfor how it would adversely affect low-income Americans. Former President Barack Obama has been among the outspoken, recently referring to the AHCA as a massive transfer of wealth aimed at benefiting moneyed Americans alone.

Polls are even showing that an overwhelming number of Americans do not approve of the health care overhaul; according to one pollster, a mere 12 percent back the bill.

Even President Trump has expressed some doubts about the AHCA, reportedly calling it mean.

Even still, Republicans like Paul Ryan are hellbent on repealingthe ACA, despite the strong opposition. In response to the CBOs damning report, Ryan claimed the numbers were misleading because those losing their health care would only be individualswho are no longer being force[d] to acquire insurance.

Though a weak counterargument on Ryans part, it might provide a window into understanding how he and other Republicans can rationalize dumping millions from their health care.

Ryanspublicly declared justifications for the AHCA areimpotent for a reason he doesnt believe them. In reality, Ryan and Trumps motivations are substantially more transparent: They simply do not believe anyone who is unable to afford health care should have it and claim that makingtaxpayers subsidize insurance is an inherent breach of personal freedoms.

While this observation may appear to be an oversimplification, a look at the personal philosophies of these men couldprove illuminating. More specifically, we should look to author and cod philosopher Ayn Rand a figure highly revered by Ryan, Trump and other Republicans.

Ayn Rand rose to prominence in the middle of the last century due to her popular works of fiction, including The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Trump has even said that of the few fictional novels he enjoys,The Fountainhead is among them, saying that it relates to everything.

Through her various novels and short stories, Rand espoused a strain of thought dubbed objectivism. This form of morality, unlike many others, sees value and worth as being developed wholly from within that is, individualism trumps all else.

Boiled down, Rand essentially argued that selfishness is the supreme virtue; everything else is ancillary, if not unnecessary. In fact, she argued that it was deeply immoral to ask an individual to help another if that help was not entirely voluntary.

Put in practical terms, Rand viewed taxes particularly their use to fund welfare programs like health care to be a severe violation of personal liberty.

This world view ended up being adopted by a number of conservatives in the United States, not the least of which include the most powerful politicians in the country Paul Ryan and Donald Trump.

For these individuals, Rands objectivist morality not only justifies the United States massive wealth inequality, but also celebrates it. And with regards to implementing the AHCA, the imperatives of objectivism make perfect sense.

So even though millions of Americans willlose health care they would not otherwise be able to afford, in Rands eyes - and Ryan and Trumps that is no ones fault but their own. And this is something that Republicansgenuinely believe.

Photo Credit: White House / Wikimedia Commons

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Why Republicans Don't Care if Millions Lose Their Health Care - Care2.com