That’s what I often say about incredible current events, especially those associated with political machinations and criminal actions: I can’t write this because no one would believe me—real life is often stranger than fiction. But, in the case of my first published novel, Full Medical, maybe I was prescient, except that things could become much worse than what I portrayed in that dystopian thriller. The theme permeating the entire novel is about the rich elites ensuring the best medical coverage available on Earth at the time at the expense of everyone else. “Full Medical” means full medical coverage, and in that novel only the rich can afford it, but they go far beyond anything seen up until then. I’ll not go into details because I don’t want to spoil the story for you. (It’s the first book in the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy,” by the way.)

The book starts in 2053, so the first thing to point out is that I probably got the date wrong: the healthcare coverage apocalypse described there might occur much sooner. Not only is the GOP talking about doing away with Obamacare (most GOP leaders don’t even like its coverage of preexisting conditions and children up to twenty-six living at home, in contrast to Mr. Trump—who would have thought that he would be more “liberal” than the rest of his party?). GOP members are out to destroy Medicare too, the closest thing we have to single-payer (the correct way to do things).

Instead of the open-ended coverage of Medicare (their words, not mine), they want to set aside X amount of dollars per person (via GOP coupons they’ll call vouchers?), essentially putting a cap on what the government will pay. Once an elder passes that limit, s/he’ll die if any emergency or sickness occurs, unless s/he can pay what doctors and hospitals charge the uninsured. Given that most people over sixty-five are on a fixed income, this will become part of the GOP’s stimulus-to-the-economy programs, namely it will be wonderful for mortuaries and companies making caskets (or will the GOP force cremation?). Unlike Carrier AC, it would be hard to move the death businesses to Mexico or overseas, so they will experience a boom never before seen in the history of this country! (OK, there have been temporary ones from the OK Corral to that night club in Orlando.)

The GOP rank-and-file (emphasis on the first word these days in its other sense) has always had their sights set on what they call entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare the big two. For them, no one has any rights and aren’t entitled to anything. Gun-crazy wackos are jubilant; pro-life fanatics are rejoicing; racists and bigots are emboldened; Wall Street thinks they can continue their rape of America; and corporations, lobbyists, and special interests are converging upon Washington D.C. like hungry vultures. Big Pharma and healthcare insurance lobbyists are hyenas and part of that carrion-eating crowd. The GOP pack is ready to launch a slaughter on the weak and infirm that will feed the vultures.

Another thing I probably got wrong in Full Medical? The government conspiracy worked behind the scenes. The GOP is more upfront: damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. They’re very open about their general agenda: increase the wealth of rich elites by screwing everyone else. And senior citizens basically have no defenses and easy prey for the hyenas, so they’ve decided to go after them first—they’re ideal screwees. Same for those who had no recourse to any medical coverage before Obamacare covered them. The GOP mantra has become “To Hell with Them!” I guess America won’t ever be great again for the elderly and other defenseless sectors of the society.

I can’t be happy with this message involving Full Medical; my “I told you so” is bitter medicine (pardon the partial pun). I’m sad. Medicare was put in place for people on fixed income who’d become bankrupt with just one serious illness. People have forgotten how bad it was before. Even the present system contains a lot of unfairness. Because Medicare isn’t completely single-payer (it should be), our elders are still hung out to dry if they can’t afford those expensive supplements. The GOP would return our country to those dark days when the elderly were given a death sentence once they stop working.

I’m also angry. First, I’m angry at all those voters who voted for Trump. While I can understand their frustrations (that seemed to be across the board in this election because both candidates were very unpopular, and for good reasons), they weren’t thinking of the consequences—an emboldened GOP (even though they often dissed their candidate, they’re now looking on the bright side—rather, the dark side—with renewed enthusiasm for doing damage).

Second, I’m angry at all those voters who swallowed the media and party hype that Clinton was going to win in a landslide (the NY Times said Clinton had an 84% probablility of winning!). It’s ironic that the person leading the charge for a recount in those battleground states is Dr. Jill Stein, the Green candidate. All the Dem establishment can do is wring their hands and point fingers at everyone else except themselves. Winning the popular vote doesn’t matter, folks! Anyone could predict that HRC would win that because of population centers like California and the tri-state area, so that’s a moot point (and it will still end up being a virtual tie percentage-wise—the country is so divided that HRC’s goal of a mandate was dead in the starting gate). HRC lost in those battleground states because the Dems didn’t get out the vote there. Historically they’ve been blue, and arrogance made the Dem establishment blind to the danger. But this election was an unusual one, to say the least, and neither the Dem establishment nor the Dem voters should have taken anything for granted.

Did I detest HRC? No. Albeit flawed in many ways, Mrs. Clinton was still the better candidate when compared to Mr. Trump. I spoke out about her flaws—there were many—and how both the Dem and GOP establishment have rigged the primary system (the Dems actually more than the GOP). I wanted a more progressive agenda for America—HRC wanted the status quo. Now we’ll have a conservative and retrograde agenda because GOP fanatics in Congress feel emboldened to launch a payback that will frankly lead to premature deaths for many Americans. Real life is stranger than fiction, and, in the case of my novel Full Medical, it looks like it will become worse much sooner than I imagined. Hopefully they’ll wait until after the inauguration. Killing Medicare (there’s a title for Bill O’Reilly!) would be a terrible Christmas gift for the nation’s senior citizens!

***

The Collector. Most Nazis stole art not out of appreciation but for money—a famous piece can launder many dollars or be used to finance all sorts of things. What they finance here might give you the creeps. Detectives Chen and Castilblanco swim in the dark seas of illegal art in this mystery/suspense/thriller novel. Can they keep from drowning?

And so it goes…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2016 at 4:00 am and is filed under Medical Coverage Crisis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.