America’s Health First

 

Even after being seven years since The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (ACA) or mainly known as the Obamacare went into effect, some American citizens still seem to be in great disapproval. With current president Trump and his promises made during his presidential election of ending this “ineffective” program and coming with a better solution for all, his promises have not come to reality. This is due to his negligence of not even having a plan of his own, making zero progress in which has lead his attempts of passing this bill unsuccessful.

An article published by the Economist talked about the uncertainty of Trump and his republican counterparts of Obamacare. I feel as though the constant belittling of Obamacare as talked about in the article, can be lessened if the people who spoke bad about it knew what they were getting themselves into If indeed Obamacare was stopped. It’s like everything that Obama did as president no matter if it was good or bad are put into the same category since many of Trump’s supporters and republican party have a certain hate in them.

Let’s begin with the ideological perspective of republicans, yes, those Americans who can afford to buy insurance directly from a provider do get charged higher premiums in order to help to pay for the subsides. These Americans are practically those whom are extremely wealthy and honestly these premium payments truly do not affect them dramatically. It is only a small percentage that comes from them, while most of the subsides come from other factors. It’s baffling to know as the article writer wrote about people that talk bad about Obamacare, a large number of them are beneficiaries of Obamacare. I believe that Obamacare isn’t something that isn’t a bad health care since if the people who are against Obamacare have Obamacare themselves, it shows that they have some likeness to it and if it was so bad they would have their own private insurance that has nothing to do with Obamacare. It’s very hypocritical of these kinds of people who have Obamacare to degrade it. Also, if Obamacare is stopped the large number of people on Obamacare have to scramble to get health coverage.

Now, it is an unfortunate and a sad reality, but we all know the older an individual gets the greater the chances are of being sicker. Honestly the fact that insurers are loosing more money now since older Americans are sicker then before is not a valid point. Yes, I do agree with the article that less of Americas youth will register for coverage if insurers decide  to increase their premiums in order to cover for the cost that the older generation is causing, and perhaps putting Americas youth and economy at risk. If insurers do not want to loose money then we should look for other alternatives. Perhaps, begin by educating everyone health wise in order  to prevent these issues from continuing in the future. 

 I personally think that Obamacare isn’t something that is so disastrous that it needs to be removed. What will be disastrous is when Obamacare is revoked and many people will be without health coverage, because of how long it will take to transition to a different type of government health care. With everything wrong happening in our country, from constant mass shootings, opioid problems, and terrible health in our society in general, removing Obamacare will only add to the never ending agenda that will so call improve the lives in America. This so “socialized medicine” quote is terrible, how can anyone use and be influenced by this when the right to good health and affordable health care should be for everyone. 

 

 

Avoiding Reality

According to an article published by The Guardian, article writer Mazin Sidahmed talks about the different people in government who say that climate change and global warming isn’t proven and agree with the president of the united states, Donald Trump. While reading the article, I was astonished on how many people are with Donald trump about saying that climate change is something that is not a big problem in America.

Department of the Interior Ryan Zinke was quoted in the article changing his stance on climate change by saying in 2014 that it “is not proven”. In all the time I spent reading this article, I didn’t come to a conclusion on how these people came to their understanding that climate change isn’t proven. I want to ask the people including Donald Trump who disagree that climate change isn’t a big problem, for their evidence in why they believe so. America needs to focus on climate change no matter if they believe if it’s a big problem or not, as it can prevent future issues in our climate. 

What I don’t understand is that, the people who say that climate change is unproven never have their own ideas on how to prevent climate change. If one disagrees with climate change, then he or she needs to have a plan that will stop climate change from happening. If all people do is bash the idea of climate change, it could happen and when it does happen, it will be too late. I believe it’s up to Donald Trump to develop a plan to prevent climate change so the rest of his cabinet that doesn’t support the idea of climate change can get their act together and assist in the prevention of climate change. Climate change is something that is extremely possible and if there are people just denying it and not working on a plan, then there will be a big chance for climate change to happen.

In fact climate change has already shown itself in action, Greenland and the Arctic are on track to melt entirely, the last time the planet was four degrees celsius warmer was 4 million years ago. Because of the absorption of CO2 by our oceans, more than 50% of our coral reefs have been lost.  Cities and towns close to shores are already seen a rise on water levels. Weather climate is a fact and affects all of us globally, personally the beliefs of our president on climate change is one of the main reasons why I do not support him. If a topic with clear evidence and proof cannot convince our president and others in command then how can we trust them with other important decisions?   

The Great Wall of worthless Expenditure

 

According to an article published by the guardian, Tom from Pennsylvania wrote about a recent meeting president trump had in the white house. Pennsylvania, known as a swing state for the last presidential election has many trump supporters. These supporters are a bit unease, the promise of the border wall with Mexico still has not been built and many original Trump wall supporters are disappointed. They are disappointed due to the fact that the wall project has not begun and other issues are being considered a priority while the topic on the wall has been put on pause. In the article, a supporter talked about how the wall must be built first before any other issues, issues such as DACA, security, and immigration control within the U.S.

I believe DACA is a very important issue to be dealt with at this moment, even though these individuals aren’t promised a full residency, it not only helps our economy by maintaining them under this program, it also gives those who want to professionally better themselves an opportunity to do so. I think spending time aiding those following the educational path will offer a better outcome for all, people will be getting educated and the American economy will continue to benefit from this program as it has been since 2012, making it a better option than spending so much unnecessary US taxpayer money to construct a wall which was initially promised it would be paid by Mexico. Our money should be invested towards education, health care, better forms of agriculture and infrastructure.  

Signed by president George W. Bush

It is also insinuated that our national security is a priority once again. We all agree that security/illegal immigration is a task that must be dealt with, but once again it is a project with no true benefit. The wall does not guarantee security as many experts have already mentioned. Beginning with its price, it is insanely pricey and it has zero guarantees that it may work. An article recently posted by The Atlantic mentions the following: “By itself, sealing the entire border wouldn’t prevent all illegal immigration. Many undocumented immigrants in the United States also enter the country legally, whether on a visa or through port of entry, and then stay longer than allowed. Nailing down the share of the undocumented population deemed “overstayers” and those who have crossed the border illegally is a difficult task, given that they’re not likely to report either way.” This article also notes the fact that most narcotic trades are done thru oceanic routes. Also, an interesting fact is that most illegal immigrants comes from China and no known terrorist have ever been reported of coming through our southern border.

Finally, I believe that just as it occurred in Australia, if the issue on immigration wants to be dealt with, laws have to be set. Those seeking a migration result would not be granted citizenship, Australian migration stopped, meaning there weren’t anymore boats nor drownings leading that nation to once again have a border and support from its citizens in “fair” migration.

 

 

Perspectives

There’s an alternative group of citizens that believe that the safety of the United States is more important to the nation. Their primary concern lies in defending our nation from international threats. In an article published by CNN Politics, there are different stories of individuals residing in the United States who are in support of the travel ban. Most of these American citizens share the same beliefs of temporarily banning refugees as well as immigration from certain countries in order ensure safety in the United States. As mentioned in the article “In all the conversations, everyone expressed concern for those fleeing persecution and war but emphasized the desire for the United States to protect its borders.”

Danny Eapen, a young adult who was born and raised in the middle east, mentions how, “people in the Middle East get screened by other in the Middle East.” He is accustomed to it happening to him and says there’s nothing wrong by this occurring in the United States. Susan Richardson a 71 year old legal immigrant from England strongly stated she is also in support. When she migrated to the United States, it was a struggle when the immigrants did not possess the right visa or you didn’t have any sponsors. If this was the case, you were sent back immediately. She does believe that children, women and the elderly living in areas of terror should be allowed to come but this process should be examined into depth. Lastly, she ends with this quote “ … I’m not anti-Muslim, I’m anti-violence.”

As an American I share the importance of national security being a priority for us all and the desire of aiding those whom are in need. There are a few flaws, for instance, these individuals do not see how the only ones affected by this executive order were those of muslim majority countries. This ban affects the majority of the countries listed, by prohibiting all immigrants and all or most visitors from entering the U.S. with not exceptions. Most, with the exception of Amanda Patrick, do not mention the fact of how this order was passed so unexpectedly and how president Trump was too harsh especially with those people caught mid-travel. Socially this travel ban sets a modern precedent for excluding specific ethnicities/races/minorities from this country. This ban also seeks to differentiate terror based on racial/ethnic/religious categorizations in order to appease a xenophobic voter base, while ignoring the fact that terror has also been committed within Americas own citizens. Finally, the banning of travel and immigration into the country its unconstitutional, because it is based on religious and political beliefs which crosses into infringing on the 1st Amendment.