The Definition of Insanity For $100, Alex

Albert Einstein is credited - probably incorrectly - with proposing the definition of “insanity” as repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.

This definition definitely applies to the Republican Party’s attempts to strike down and/or reform the Affordable Care Act the last seven years, where the GOP’s valiant abilities have been worse than Charlie Brown’s ability to hit a baseball or kick a football.

Between something like 60 failed attempts to repel the ACA while President Barack Obama was in office, and multiple failed attempts to do the same since Donald Trump took the Oval Office, Republican Party leadership and membership has been unable - and, in some cases, unwilling - to bring about its much-ballyhooed change to the health care system.

Obama promised change and achieved it; the GOP has proven all talk and no action, with plenty of flip and flop along the way.

Now, don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of issues that need to be fixed in the ACA. Plenty of Democrats feel this way; heck, back in January, Obama said he would publicly support GOP efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare - and encourage Democrats to support it - if their plan is better.

But Republican plans have not been better.

For seven years, Republicans have railed against the ACA (also known as “ObamaCare”). Instead of spending time seriously devising an alternative that would work, they whined and complained and shook their fists in the air. And in the past six months, since taking full control of the federal government - the GOP controls the House, the Senate, and the Office - they have developed replacement plans in secret, without reaching across the political aisle, and alienating their own base.

While they freely assailed the health law when Obama occupied the White House, the GOP was unable to devise a workable plan that would keep both moderate Republicans and conservatives on board.

Is it any surprise three of the GOP senators who helped prevent Trumpcare from achieving a vote were Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, and Lisa Murkowski? It’s notable the three women - who have been vocal in their positions on health care policy - were all left out of the Senate’s initial working group to draft the latest Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill - a group of 13 men.

"I did not come to Washington to hurt people," Capito said in a statement. “I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians.”

So now what? After the latest crash and burn, conservative commentator Laura Ingraham said Republicans must admit they need to work with Democrats in order to pass legislation on healthcare or “do nothing.” Trump seemingly decided to focus on the latter part of her position; the president has declared his plan is now to “let Obamacare fail,” suggesting Democrats would then seek out Republicans to work together on a bill to bury the Affordable Care Act. 

If he is determined to make good on that pledge, he has plenty of options at his disposal, from declining to reimburse insurance companies for reducing low-income customers’ out-of-pocket costs to failing to enforce the mandate that most Americans have health coverage.

I hope Democrats and Republicans can come together and clean up the health care system. Americans deserve the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and having available, viable health care options achieves all three of these goals.

Florida's Opioid Mess

It took much longer than it should have, but the state Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott have finally passed and signed into law tougher penalties aimed at combating Florida’s opioid epidemic.

The legislation, officially signed last month, increases penalties for dealers caught selling synthetic drugs like fentanyl, a cheap and potent painkiller largely responsible for the surge in overdoses in Florida over the last few years.

Under the new law, drug dealers could face murder charges if their customers overdose and die using fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid South Florida drug dealers have mixed into heroin.

Starting this fall, judges will be forced to sentence people possessing 4 grams of fentanyl to a minimum of three years in prison. If an individual has 14 grams, they face 15 years in prison; people with 28 grams with get a minimum 25 years in prison.

County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay has been pushing hard for such legislation to be passed. About the same time Gov. Scott was ceremoniously signing the bill into law in Wellington this week, McKinlay was receiving the Florida Association of Counties’ Marlene Young Presidential Advocacy Award, which is presented to a county elected official who has shown extraordinary leadership. FAC President Kathy Bryant said the recognition was in large part due to McKinlay’s tireless push to not only create tougher penalties for opioids, but to get more and better funding from the state and federal governments.

McKinlay was among the first public officials in the state to lobby Gov. Scott for action, and in April helped persuade the commission to adopt an initial $3 million plan to address the crisis.

In May, after four years of a drastic increase in opioid-related deaths, Gov. Scott finally declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. The new law allows Florida to tap more than $54 million in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant money to pay for prevention, treatment and recovery services.

The real questions now are, (a) is it enough funding to stem the tide, and (b) can any amount of money achieve this goal? Odds are, the answers are (a) no, and (b) no … but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Florida has been a leader, nationally, in terms of opioid overdoses; according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the state accounted for 12 percent of the 33,000 people nationwide who died in 2015 of opioid overdoses.

This is the second recent major drug-addiction related initiative with direct ties to Palm Beach County. There have been nearly 30 arrests in the past few months of individuals who have been breaking the law while running drug-treatment centers.

So-called “sober homes” are intended to be supportive transitional environments for individuals preparing to face the world during recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. In 2015, the state passed a law requiring recovery residences and their administrators to be certified (at the time, sober homes were unregulated, so the state was not even sure how many there were).

Last year, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg began a task force consisting of prosecutors and police to study abuses in the industry and find solutions. The result has been a crackdown on such abuse, which has direct ties to the opioid situation.

I am pleased the rampant abuse of drugs is being dealt with at the local and state levels, and hope this will be resolved quickly and effectively in short order.