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Now Playing: Rebel With a Cause, starring John McCain

Considering we have a former reality show star as president, it seemed appropriate one of his biggest campaign promises died dramatically early Friday morning in a scene reminiscent of a Hollywood movie.

Entering stage left is our hero: the embattled Senator from Arizona who returned from brain cancer surgery days earlier to a standing ovation while delivering an inspirational speech that brings colleagues to tears.

But in an epic plot twist, our scar bearing-hero rejects conventional wisdom and turns the tables. Following a dramatic pause, he delivers a “thumbs down” vote resulting in audible gasps from shocked colleagues in the room and from a watching nation.

Then in the final scene, as our hero rides off into the sunset (or moonset considering the time of day) he’s asked why he voted no. His response was equally simple as it was poetic: “Because it was the right vote.”

Add the word “pilgrim” to the end of that statement and I can envision John Wayne in a suit delivering the line.

But of course, it was John McCain who would play the leading role in this week’s Affordable Health Care Act saga, which amazingly did something President Trump has coveted for weeks: take attention away from the Russia election scandal and place it on his agenda.

Unfortunately though for Trump, the attention is again negative as he not only failed to replace Obamacare but also failed to repeal it, which is what Friday morning’s vote would have done had McCain or one of two other dissenting Republicans voted yes.

Expanding upon the Hollywood metaphor, the Affordable Health Care Act has evolved into the Road Runner of legislation. Republicans, led by their party’s Wile E. Coyote, Mitch McConnell, have been trying to carve up, shoot, dynamite, smash, and run over with a steam engine the centerpiece of President Obama’s legacy since the moment it passed. But once again, Friday night that old crafty road runner escaped again from Capitol Hill, leaving a forlorn Sen. McConnell in its dust.

And yet, if Democrats believe this is a time to celebrate, they are wrong. Make no mistake: Obamacare is a disaster.

I remember when President Obama first ran for office. When he said we need health insurance reform, I agreed as I had started to see my premiums increase substantially while coverage decreased. I agreed with him health insurance should be available to everyone and that by doing so, our nation’s economy, quality of life, and health care system would improve while stabilizing costs.

That didn’t happen.

After he took office and followed through on his campaign promise, I saw more of the same. Costs kept increasing and coverage kept decreasing. I saw how it impacted newspapers I managed. At one smaller publication, the company’s cost for health insurance surpassed the cost of newsprint.

Let that sink in: a newspaper spent more money on health insurance for its employees than it did … for paper.

As a result, employees didn’t get raises, customers costs increased for our product, and profits decreased.

So after watching Obamacare flounder for a couple years, I didn’t vote for President Obama in his re-election bid.

Some Obamacare advocates have claimed while health insurance costs may have increased significantly since the law was enacted, they would have increased even more without it. I don’t like to deal with hypotheticals. What I remember is Candidate Obama promising if he became President Obama, health insurance costs would stop rising. They didn’t so from that perspective, I view the legislation as a failure.

Advocates would also correctly point out though Obamacare did do a lot more for health insurance and coverage such as establishing minimums for policies while removing things like lifetime caps and barring pre-existing conditions. And I don’t deny there have been some posit3ives resulting from Obamacare, which is also why I don’t think it should be scrapped entirely.

That’s also why I applauded Sen. McCain for his vote earlier in the week to open up debate into a new health care bill. He singularly swung that vote as well, with every member of the Democratic party ludicrously voting against discussing any changes.

While I criticize Republicans for wanting to repeal the health care plan without a replacement in hand, I find it absurd for Democrats to be opposed to discussing changes to it. That kind of mentality tells me they either A: think the existing legislation is perfect (which would cause me to openly question their competency/sanity) or B: they are more concerned with winning political battles than solving problems.

One thing I think everyone can agree on regardless of what side of the political fence you lean, Obamacare needs some work. How much work can be debated, but the status quo doesn’t work.

The overriding question surrounding the health insurance debate is this: do you believe health insurance and quality care is a right?

If you are of the mindset quality health insurance is a privilege and not a right, then Obamacare or any version of it should be abolished entirely.

However, I think any industrialized and civilized nation should want to offer a basic level of health care to all of its citizens, much as we do public education.

Believe it or not, there was a time in this nation’s history when vigorous public debate occurred over whether government should provide and fund any kind of public education, much less one beyond the eighth grade. However, we decided as a society long time ago that we did want to make education a basic right in this country and today, we couldn’t imagine a world without it, despite the overwhelming costs.

History will teach us whether health care follows a similar path as education. But whatever the outcome, Sen. McCain certainly added some entertainment and drama to the ongoing saga with his votes this week.

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