In article today, March 13yh, 2017 in The Guardian entitled, “Republican health care plan: 24 million people could lose coverage CBO reports.” the Congressional Budge Office, the nonpartisan arm of the Federal Government and Congress, announced that it projects 24 million persons now insured will lose coverage through the Republican Party’s new healthcare alternative healthcare plan, the once reviled, now widely accepted, “Obamacare,” of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

I have been awaiting this estimate as have many other Americans and observers, and now we have it. In spite of the recent wave of promises and pledges that this health care plan would be better in all ways, it does not seem so at first and second and third readings….

I think many of us will wait to watch how the Republicans pitch and sell this to an important part of their base, the working class Americans who were without insurance fo so many years comprising the oft-quoted figure of 47 million Americans who were uninsured and prompted the move toward Obamacare. I for one am interested to see if the Republican base will react adversely and see this plan for the inadequate contrivance I at least consider it to be. Will they react with disappointment that is finally translated into lost votes in 2018? Much has been made of the white middle and lower middle class who have voted with the Republicans since President Nixon’s “Southern Strategy,” of the late 1960’s and 1970’s that in my mind really precipitated out the Culture Wars in this country.

This while working class of voters stuck with the Republicans in spite of being taken advantage of by the Republican Party and served poorly by it because the cultural issues of birth control, abortion, religious separation of church and state issues pulled them into the Republican fold in spite of losing ground economically over the past 2-3 decades.

I will be watching the elections of 2018 and 2020 to see if that bloc of voters reacts adversely to the erosion of their access to health care insurance.