Commentary: Health care comments

It is notable that the reporter who wrote the story about Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’ health policies on Sept. 18 spent at least a column on her one source, an excellent one. Yet the headline, “Harris’, Trump’s healthcare policies under RGV’s microscope,” suggest that the lens was dusty or clouded.

Why do the media, much of them, insist on politeness with Mr. Trump? He does not know what the word “policy” means. At the debate, Harris spoke at length on proposed policies. When asked, Trump provided one concept of one policy.

Trump is treated in print as if he is a serious candidate for the highest office in our country. He was impeached twice during his one term. He is a convicted felon. One of his contributions toward health care saw him and his lawyers go to court 60 times in an effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Sixty times he lost. He brags about overturning Roe vs. Wade. Since those protections have been destroyed, two women have died and there are surely more we don’t know about yet. His misogyny is obvious.

I can’t wait to read all of Project 2025. Therein lies everything he intends to do if elected. Just the pieces from that document I’ve read and heard from are stunning.

There was no mention in the piece on policies that the $35 cap on insulin and the $20 drug out-of-pocket cap was the result of direct action by President Joe Biden. Trump’s answer to what he would do (during the debate) was milquetoast when we need steak. He would compare drug prices with “other countries” and be willing to sign an executive order “to see that through.”

Big deal. Executive orders are not law. They seldom have teeth.

He said he opposes late-term abortions and instead supports policies that enable prenatal care and access to birth control. Women’s reproductive health care is nowhere to be found thanks to Trump. One of the most recent deaths happened because a woman needed a dilation and curettage, a common, simple procedure that doctors fear because of long prison terms if they do it. The other woman died at the end of 20 hours as doctors put off surgery that complied with the law, something to do with being on the “brink” of death. By the end of that period, it was too late to save the woman’s life.

The same Mr. Trump declares that his opponents want late-term abortions, even after birth. On one program he went so far as to say Democrats want to “execute” the baby after birth.

The lens on that microscope needs to be wider to include what Trump says and does about women’s reproductive care. This is no longer about politics. We passed that benchmark long ago.

This is about a human rights threat. Women’s or any other health care is a right, not a privilege. Men in suits and high places are not doctors or nurses or midwives.

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.” — John Donne.

Shirley Rickett lives in Alamo.