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My View: Grammar tit for tat surrounding ObamaCare

Felicia Muftic
My View
Felicia Muftic
Courtesy Photo |

Twisted grammar and ever-changing vocabulary are the stuff of which the continuing GOP crusade to destroy Obamacare is made, and the Democrats have their stumbles, too. The anti-Obamacare talking points get the present tense of verb mixed up with future tense. Some words, like “replace” disappear from talking points, new ones emerge like “repair.” Old words, like “lie” get new definitions.

One GOP approach is to turn present tense into a future certainty. The lines go like this.” No one has signed up for Obamacare now, they will not do it late,” ignoring that a working website and penalties have not even kicked in yet. Another line is, “No one young, healthy will sign up so it will collapse of its own weight,” though 98 percent are insured in Massachusetts, the state system after which Obamacare was patterned. If “the tech surge” succeeds in fixing the website, their verb tense will become past perfect.

Since Rep. Joe Wilson interrupted President Obama’s 2009 State of the Union speech with, “You lie,” the word “lie” has also become a standard GOP phrase. Mitt Romney, interviewed on NBC’S Meet the Press Nov. 3, used the less inflammatory words,”fundamental dishonesty” instead of “you lie,” but the meaning was the same.



When is a “lie” a lie? When it is true at the time when it is told but it is not true now? That seems to be how the GOP defines it. When Pres. Obama made his statements before mid-March 2010 when the law was passed, it was true at that time ­— “If you liked your insurance, you could keep it.” Not explained then, if the individual insurance you had then is not the one you have now or your policy terms changed in the meantime and it does not meet new standards, you may have to get a new policy. Pres. Obama’s sin, for which he apologized on Nov. 7, was not qualifying his statement with the adjective “most” will keep their insurance, and then doing nothing to clarify then or later.

The president has promised to fix the problem for those who have hardships because of cancellations. What would happen without changes? All would get better, more comprehensive insurance, about half would even qualify for a subsidy and pay less and others would pay more. It is the latter the president hints he will take administrative action to help.



For the most apolitical, factual explanation of how Obamacare will impact you personally, go to What’s up with Obamacare and my health care? — CNN.com at http://www.cnn.com/20. It is a good way to get real in future tense. Remember Colorado manages its own marketplace and web at: http://www.connectforhealthco.com and it is up and running. Do not go to the federal site.

In the Nov. 3 interview, Gov. Romney did add a new word to our health care reform vocabulary: “repair.” “Repair” should not mean a “fundamental change.”

“Repeal and defund,” the “throw the baby out with the bathwater” approach, will be only a whisper by March 31, 2014, when many have signed up. Taking away better understood and valued benefits from so many will be a tough sell. “Delay” will still be on the tips of some tongues, but expect no action unless the federal website is not “repaired” by the end of November. There is still plenty of time between Dec. 1 and before the end of March to sign up customers.

“Replace” used to be coupled with the word “repeal,” but it has disappeared from the GOP lexicon. Nothing Republicans ever proposed in the past four years “replaced” what Obamacare offers: insuring 30 million uninsured and protecting consumers, while providing a plan to pay for it without adding to the deficit.

For more, visit http://www.mufticforumblogspot.com.


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