Thanks Obama! (for saving my life)

There was a conservative meme during the Obama Presidency about how bad he was for America ("‘Thanks Obama.’ The evolution of a meme that defined a presidency," Washington Post).

I had been doing some reading on the New Deal, when the US Government did so many great things.  

And that spirit of innovation marked the federal government for some time, e.g. Medicare and Medicaid were created in the 1960s, LBJ's Great Society program invested in cities and civil rights, and even Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.

Although the federal government hasn't stopped investment in science as discussed in the Michael Lewis book, The Fifth Risk, the government has become a lot more timid, which Lewis covers in his book on the response to covid, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story.  

Part of this is because in our current system there is zero room for mistakes, people get excoriated--despite the venture capital community saying learning from failure works for start up culture.

(Years ago then Mayor of Baltimore O'Malley said mayors want to be second with innovation, because being first sets you up for failure.)

But the primary reason, at least in the 1970s, was a loss of confidence because of the Gas Crisis, which was a major shock to the system, from which US confidence never really recovered.

This was made worse by the neoliberalism philosophy adopted soon after ("Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems," Guardian), which exalted the market and private sector action and denigrated government as a failure.

And the anarcholibertarianism of Republicans, which militates against government generally, governance specifically, public investment and the concept of public goods, cut taxes--the revenue government needs to function, defund it, and then criticize a defunded government for acting inadequately when pressed by disaster or other great needs.

-- "You don't have to bash the federal government to make the case for local action"

I argue that because for many decades the US government overinvested in society, it was able to withstand disinvestment for some time (also see the concept of "capital shallowing").  But the Bush Administration and its failed response to Hurricane Katrina, demonstrated that the government capital surplus had finally been depleted.

A recent Reuters article, "Why Congress is becoming less productive," about how Congress is accomplishing less and less.

Government can't seem to accomplish much more than one thing, let alone great things during one four year term, maybe one, and a lot of the time, the "great thing" may not be so great.  Trump's biggest accomplishment was cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations--1/3 of the federal deficit is attributable to Bush and Trump tax cuts, so it's not much of an achievement.  

Although the Biden Administration is actually accomplishing a lot, from investments in transportation to creation of technology hubs around the country, continued investment in broadband, etc. ("Joe Biden profile," New Yorker).

Besides a great macroeconomic response (that could have been better, "Obama’s Failure to Adequately Respond to the 2008 Crisis Still Haunts American Politics," Jacobin) which warded off a depression in response to the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, the other New Deal comparable act during the Obama Administration was the expansion of health care access to the less well off, which is commonly called Obamacare, but formally is the Affordable Care Act.

Obamacare included Medicaid expansion.  Many Republican states refused to participate in this, although a number did, and over time more red states are participating, although many still not ("2024 Session: Health care a driving issue — but don't talk about Medicaid expansion," Tallahassee Democrat).  Red states tend to have much worse health outcomes than blue states because of policy choices like this ("HOW RED-STATE POLITICS ARE SHAVING YEARS OFF AMERICAN LIVES" Washington Post).

Republicans continue to denigrate Obamacare ("GOP Guv Candidate Mark Robinson on Obamacare: It’s an Effort to ‘Enslave Everybody’," Daily Beast) or try to repeal it ("Trump says he will renew efforts to replace ‘Obamacare’ if he wins a second term," AP) but are more resigned to it because it's effective and a majority of the population support it ("Republicans abandon Obamacare repeal" NBC News).

Utah joined the program in 2019, not because the state government did the right thing, but because voters approved joining the program in a referendum vote in 2018 ("What is the Status of Medicaid Expansion in Utah?" Kaiser Family Foundation).  Voter referenda have accomplished this in a number of states, in response to conservative intransigence.

I'm poor.  I don't have an advanced degree in planning, making it harder to get a job.  I'm 63.  I moved to a new place with no network of contacts.  Covid happened.  So it was even harder to find a job.  I haven't.  Now I'm pretty sick although fortunately my mind is fully intact. So I have no real income.

I'm sick.  I didn't have insurance.  I applied to Healthcare.Gov.  Almost immediately during the process it said I was eligible for Medicaid.  The process for signing up was easy.  (Although I worry about being kicked out next year, just because, see "Most People Dropped in Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Never Tried to Renew Coverage, Utah Finds" and "Halfway through ‘unwinding,’ Medicaid enrollment is down about 10 million," KFF).

Since September 

1. I'd been diagnosed with colon cancer 
2. had surgery for it in November, it was Stage II/III but with zero spread
3. in post-op my troponin levels were so high it indicated a heart attack, which I didn't have, but it turned out I do have congestive heart failure
4. the raised lymph nodes in my groin weren't colon cancer but a rare aggressive lymphoma that without treatment most people die within one year
5. I started chemotherapy in December with immediate positive results, although it's on hiatus because of 6 and 8
6. hospitalization for covid in February because it got worse, not better, with non-viral pneumonia and myocarditis
7. since I had covid last March I've lost 1/3 of my body weight, I meet the definition of malnourished and I finally agreed to a feeding tube which was installed last Friday
8. since November it turns out I had heart rhythm issues that would have resulted in death, but the doctors weren't really sure if it was bad or not, but just this week, I had a pacemaker installed on Tuesday after being called in the middle of the night and ordered to the hospital because there was a period of 12 seconds where my heart wasn't beating.

Medicaid covers it all.

Thanks Obama.  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obamacare/Affordable Care Act has saved my life.

With an assist from the residents of Utah.

And bike riding for 30 years.  My father, uncle and grandfather all died at 54 or earlier from heart disease.  So I decided at 30 to bike for transportation, because I didn't think I had the perseverance to actually go regularly to the gym.  Instead my exercise would be forced by my need for transport.

But I guess I could postpone genetics but not outrun it.  I've lived almost 10 years longer than my father.  And while I have a lot of health problems at the moment, but surprisingly pretty good prognoses.  And when I get tests other than for the specific problems my organs and such show pretty well, e.g., I have no plaques in my veins, etc.  My colorectal surgeon attributes those kinds of results to the biking...