Turnbull Sucked The Hell Up To Trump About His New Healthcare-Nuking Bill

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sucked the hell up to US President Donald Trump over his first successful crack at repealing the Affordable Care Act, a move which has been slammed for potentially depriving millions of Americans of their health care coverage.

After their first meeting – which itself was delayed, after Trump went overtime celebrating the Obamacare replacement bill passing the House of Representatives – a jovial Turnbull said “well done, congratulations, it’s always good to win a vote in the Congress – or, the Parliament, as we call it.

And I’ve got to say it’s always reasonably satisfying to win a vote when people predict you’re not going to win it, too. 

So keep at it. No, it’s great. Well done, Mr. President.”
For what it’s worth, that “great” move really isn’t for a large chunk of the American populace. Should the bill go on to pass in the Senate, it’ll mean that insurance companies will be able to charge higher premiums for people with pre-existing conditions. 

Oh, it’ll also be especially rank for women, and victims of sexual abuse. If the bill passes, insurance companies may be able to classify continuing treatments for injuries sustained during sexual assault and rape as treatments for a pre-existing condition. 

Similarly, post-partum depression and caesarean sections could also qualify, drastically limiting the treatment options available to individuals in need of continuing medical care.
Turnbull’s statement is bloody worrying here, too. If he wasn’t just being offensively congratulatory as a means of winning over the notoriously vain president, Turnbull’s comments suggest he’s down with limiting government funding within the healthcare space. 

That’s really not great, considering how opposition to the Liberal Party at the last election focused on the Coalition’s supposed desire to gut Australia’s Medicare system. Should Turnbull bring that rhetoric back home, Labor’s so-called Mediscare campaign may hold a little more water in retrospect.

Also, all of this came after Trump praised Australia’s healthcare system as better than the one in the United States – and we have universal health care. The mind boggles.

Source: ABC / New York Magazine.
Photo: ABC.

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