Who's going to suffer to enable GOP to satisfy their Obama-hating sentiments?

It's no surprise that Republicans are ever-so-eager to dump the Affordable Care Act. The Republican influences that now control federal government want to erase every trace that Barack Obama ever was president. That most certainly includes his prime achievement -- bolstering the number of people who actually have health insurance when they become ill.

RAUNER: Not rushing to back Trump's vision

It's not even a surprise that Republican officials on Capitol Hill are split on how to handle the situation -- with some trying to come up with convoluted repairs and others who would just as soon scrap the whole thing and be done with it!

BUT I HAVE to admit to being a bit shocked that Gov. Bruce Rauner was publicly critical of the reform plan that now-President Donald J. Trump put forth this week -- the American Health Care Act! It has to be better, because it has the word "American" in its title. If only Obama hadn't have titled his health care reform plan to emphasize the fact it would be "Affordable" for people.

Rauner had a reaction to the new plan that is supposedly the Republican alternative to provide medical treatment to the masses, and the stories being published across the state carry headlines such as "Illinois 'won't do well' under House GOP health plan."

He thinks Illinois will wind up faring worse under the Trump-inspired proposal. Our state's people will be "left in the lurch," says the governor, who thinks there will be pressure to reduce insurance coverage in our state. "Illinois won't do very well under the changes they're recommending."

I'm sure some people will be shocked to learn that a Republican governor is not immediately leaping on board to back this proposal that will be key to understanding how the ideologues of our society intend to replace Obama in all segments of our society.

Would Obama's plan have been better ...

BUT I'M SHOCKED as in "shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" (remember "Casablanca's" Capt. Renault character?). Rauner's own ideological leanings are such that he wants to undermine organized labor and unions, but actually has been supportive in the past of some progressive causes.

He's not the kind of guy who would have felt compelled to make a priority of erasing the program that actually provided many millions of people with health insurance they previously couldn't afford to buy for themselves -- although there are many Trump-ite tyes who are exactly those kind of people.

Rauner's own re-election campaign strategy for 2018 focuses heavily on turning the other parts of Illinois against the Chicago city masses who will vote overwhelmingly for whomever the Democrats nominate to run against him. What happens if Trump starts extending his contemptable Tweeter missives into shots against the whole of Illinois (we were one of the states that clearly preferred the thought of "President Hillary R. Clinton" and I think most of us are proud of that fact)?

... if he had included the word "American" in the title?

Will Rauner wind up having to eat his initial opposition to Trump's version of healthcare reform?

OR WILL HE wind up gaining the backing of the Protect Our Care Illinois Coalition, which consists of various progressive-minded groups. They said this week that some 350,000 Illinois residents who were able to purchase private medical coverage will find the cost shoot up so high that they won't be able to afford to keep it.

And yes, as a freelance writer, the reason I have had health insurance in recent years is because of the subsidy I qualified for under the Affordable Care Act. My insurance plan remains in place for now, but I must admit to feeling some trepidation, wondering what will be forthcoming.

Would Renault be 'shocked' to find GOP partisanship?

Of course, there also are the 650,000 Illinois residents who were benefitting from expansion of Medicaid in recent years who could suddenly find themselves shut out of health care.

That's an even 1 million people living in Illinois who will sustain some sort of loss -- all because Republican ideologues don't want the president who came from our state to have any lasting accomplishment. And because I'm sure many of the ideologues probably think it's not their concern if some people can't merely get a health insurance benefit as a part of their job.

YES I'M SURE many of those people want to believe that the insurance-less are merely too lazy to go to work. "Get a job!" is bound to be the war cry we'll hear.

But it will be intriguing to see how Rauner handles his political situation, since many of the kinds of people whom he theoretically needs to rely upon for support are ones who are on board for Trump and will expect the governor to be fully supportive of the president -- and would think nothing of dumping on Rauner if he doesn't back The Donald.

Considering that a recent poll showed Rauner with a 32 percent approval rating and being beaten significantly by a still-nameless Democrat. Or, as the Capitol Fax newsletter out of Springfield put it, 56 percent of people would support the tax on pop and other sugary beverages; which means people would rather pay more for their pop than vote for Bruce Rauner.

Would crackpots prevail in this show?

It's going to be an intriguing coming few months as we figure out which segment of the Republicans manages to prevail -- the ones who want health care reform to carry the brand of Donald Trump or the ones who'd just as soon do nothing. The ones who will have us thinking of the past eight years as "The Obama Years," which might be like that old "The Wonder Years" program, only this show features the Arnold family with a neighboring family of cranky malcontents determined to impose their will over all.

  -30-