Below is the text portion of the survey that I filled out for Congressman Lloyd Doggett.
Dear Congressman Doggett,
I am currently a health insurance agent and I wish I could play some of the heartbreaking recorded conversations that I have with sick and/or poor individuals who cannot receive affordable healthcare coverage due to preexisting conditions or prohibitive premiums. Healthcare insurance isn’t a luxury item, like a cell phone or even a car, but an essential part of the infrastructure of our country. It is absolutely dishonest for any politician to suggest that Americans will have their choice of healthcare coverage when the cost is prohibitive to access that coverage. When people cannot afford health coverage, especially people with mental disorders and chemical dependencies, then society will pay for it via the penal system rather than the healthcare system.
Secondly, I was very disappointed that Betsy DeVos became the Secretary of Education. There is an anti-education movement that has taken hold of education by entrepreneurial-minded people who want nothing more than to profit off education through for-profit charter schools. Not only do they divert funds that should go to public schools, they advocate for vouchers as well to pay for their for-profit educational businesses that are in the guise of schools. If taxpayer money goes to any educational institution, then the student body should reflect the demographics of the immediate surrounding neighborhoods.
Lastly, although I accept that Trump is currently the president of the United States, I do not accept the free reign he has been given thus far. The American people did not elect a dictator, but Trump has thus far monetized the White House for both himself and his family, fired experts and replaced them with his incompetent cronies, and the controlling political party, the GOP, are allowing these things to happen just so Trump will continue signing what they want to pass before Trump is unseated. If Democratic leaders are too cautious to pursue impeachment, can they at least encourage Trump to resign? He’s already confessed that the job has been much harder than he expected and that he misses his old life. I think Democrat leaders should circulate a memo with easy-to-understand steps about how a sitting president can resign. You can even throw him a bone of giving him the biggest farewell party the country has ever seen, using the leftover money that he raised during the inauguration.
Cheers,
Teresa
Here’s his response, well-written form letters:
May 19, 2017
Dear Teresa:
Thank you for answering my survey and expressing our shared strong opposition to the disastrous Trumpcare bill. I voted against this bill, which would destroy protections for people with pre-existing conditions, bring back lifetime and annual caps on care, allow states to remove essential health benefits, like maternity and mental health care, and take almost a trillion dollars out of Medicaid. You can watch my remarks on the House floor here or read them below. I also spoke at a rally against Trumpcare at the U.S. Capitol, which you can watch here. Sadly, the Pied Piper of Trump Tower is playing a tune and Republicans believed they must dance.
Nearly every healthcare professional group has come out to condemn this travesty. Trumpcare is still just a scam—a trillion dollar tax cut for the superrich and some big corporations cloaked as health care reform. I stand with the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, and families around our Nation in opposition to this terrible bill. As the AARP knows, Americans too young for Medicare by a few years will get socked with unaffordable premiums, as this bill allows insurers to charge them an “age tax” and raise their premiums to five times or more than that of a young American.
While Trumpcare takes away your coverage, it provides over $28 billion to drug manufacturers, with no strings attached—even as the price of prescription drugs skyrockets. It provides hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest few and to large corporations.
If you think you are safe because you are covered by a large employer, watch out, these changes will hit you too in the policy’s fine print. Not only does this bill remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions—more than 4.5 million people under 65 in Texas—in the individual market, it also takes away protections for people with employer plans. This Republican bill brings us back to that sorry state of affairs before the Affordable Care Act, because if even one state chooses to cut essential health benefits like prescription drug coverage, mental health care, or maternity care, a large group employer could impose lifetime or annual caps on coverage once again.
Let’s pull together to resist yet another backward step upon which Trump is insisting. I also hope that you will take this opportunity to visit my Facebook page, follow me on Twitter, or send me an e-mail at Lloyd.Doggett@mail.house.gov.
Please keep me advised of any federal matters with which I may be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Doggett
Rep. Lloyd Doggett
Rally Against Trumpcare
May 4, 2017
“Thank you, American patriots, for being here today. I’m Lloyd Doggett, from deep in the heart of Texas. And way down there on the other side of the Red River, you can hear today the great Pied Piper of Trump Tower playing a tune. When these Republicans hear that Pied Piper, they think it’s time to dance. Well, it is a dangerous dance of indifference to the needs of families all across our great country. These Republicans, they talk about a “high-risk pool.” The real high-risk pool is the one they are voting for us to dive into. And when they swim with sharks, they’ll no longer be serving in this Congress.
These Republicans have been unable to hear the advice of almost every major group of healthcare professionals, physicians, nurses, and hospitals across this land. They’ve been unable to listen to those who represent people with disabilities like the March of Dimes, or diseases like American Heart Association or American Cancer Society. They can’t hear them. They can’t hear AARP, who is concerned about all those younger people who are not quite old enough to be eligible for Medicare, and who will face an astronomical increase in their premiums. But you know, they hear some people. They hear the price gougers from the pharmaceutical lobby, who have been on a rampant spree of price gouging pharmaceuticals across the board—and what do drug makers get out of this bill? A $28 billion windfall in their taxes, with no strings attached, just like the no strings attached to the superrich, who get a windfall from this bill as well.
We know it’s wrong, and what we can do in response is what we’ve been doing, and that is to resist President Trump, in every day, in every nonviolent way. To never give up, never give in, keep hope alive, and defeat this travesty.”
House Floor
“The harsh indifference of these Republicans to the well-being of so many Americans is startling. Trump may temporarily bury the lie central to this plan with a tweet storm, with fake news, but these Republicans who follow him, they will not be able to find an excuse, as one family after another suffers.
Today’s surprise attack on American health care has been widely condemned by health care professionals across the country and those who represent the disabled and sick like the American Cancer Society and March of Dimes.
Jimmy Kimmel – know that your baby was fortunate, but others born with a disability will face the barrier of pre-existing conditions. And they didn’t listen to the AARP, which knows those Americans too young for Medicare by a few years will get socked with unaffordable premiums.
They don’t know what this monstrosity of a bill costs to the taxpayers, they don’t know how many families will lose coverage, how many jobs will be lost; they don’t really know what’s in this bill. They know only that the Pied Piper of Trump Tower is playing a tune today and they must dance. There is much talk about high risk pools—the real high risk pool is the one that everyone who votes for this outrageous proposal is about to plunge into.”