Friday, June 29, 2012

BEWARE THE FUB

Now that the Supreme Court has upheld Obamacare we will again be warned by Republicans about the horror of the FUB; the Faceless Unelected Bureaucrat. These frightening creatures will come between you and your doctor. They will prevent you from getting the care you need. Why, they might even be on the dreaded Death Panels! What utter BS.

First, let's be clear that the GOP is talking about only one species of FUB; the G-FUB or the Government Unelected Bureaucrat. That's the one we have to fear. Nothing is ever said about the P-FUB; the Private Unelected Bureaucrat. That's because, as the Republicans have been telling us, over and over, redundantly, again and again, government is always bad and private industry is always good.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when my lovely bride, the Queen of the Frontier, who has private, employer provided health insurance was informed that, no, she could not have the MRI that her doctor wanted for a back problem. She was informed that the insurance company wanted her to have physical therapy first, and then if (when) that failed to help her the MRI would be paid for.

Imagine, a P-FUB had come between her and what her doctor wanted. Can you believe it?

Of course, that's the real problem with the right wing's view of the American economy. They see harm from government action but ignore harm from the private sector or assume that "The Market" will magically fix any problems. It doesn't matter that the person having the problem won't or can't benefit from the invisible hand of the market as it makes its invisible corrections. Just believe in the free market and all will be well.

But here's the thing that really gets me boiling. The fear of the G-FUB seems to be mainly based on that unelected part. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that the Queen of the Frontier has very little recourse to change what that P-FUB decided. The FUBs that work for private firms have the interests of the company, and keeping their job, foremost in mind. In fact just about the only thing that she could do would be to follow Mitt Romney's advice and "Fire," her insurance company. Opps! Since hers is employer based health insurance she can't just send them packing. She, like millions of other Americans, is just stuck.

But it seems that we do have recourse when a G-FUB makes a decision that we don't like. It's called an election. Perhaps you've heard of that. In fact, it's funny that the folks on the right don't seem to allow for just that kind of corrective action as it relates to health care. They don't have that same problem when the issue is coal.

Those of you that don't live in coal country may be unaware that the Obama administration, by way of the EPA, is waging a "War On Coal." This war is, according to Republicans and their friendly news outlets, Obama's effort to kill the coal industry and raise everyone's electric bill so that wind and solar energy can compete. This would appear to be yet another load of good old bull manure, since, at least in West Virginia, coal production was only down 0.8% in 2010 (with the economy weak), and coal mining employment was at its highest since the '60s! Some war. But here's the thing. The answer to the War On Coal, according to the GOP, is to elect a different President. This, even though the means by which Obama is fighting the war is through, you guessed it, the Faceless Unelected Bureaucrats of the EPA. So, just vote out that guy and vote in their guy and problem solved.

Let's review. Obamacare is bad because Faceless Unelected Bureaucrats will come between you and your doctor, but private health insurance is good, even though we know that Faceless Unelected Bureaucrats already come between you and your doctor. To FUB or not to FUB. What a question.

1 comment:

The Far Middle said...

So, in the hypothetical future scenario that you so eloquently describe, I wonder if having one's sweet great aunt or uncle killed off due to a decision made by an evil FUB will come to be known as "getting fubbed"?