The universal health coverage, planned as part of the “Green New Deal,” would apparently not cover hip replacements for the elderly or private rooms in hospitals. At least, that is what Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s senior counsel and policy advisor, Dan Riffle — a former marijuana activist, whose Twitter slogan is, “Every billionaire a policy failure” — tweeted Tuesday:
Private rooms, 5th Avenue offices, hip replacements for octogenarians, the public plan will no longer cover them. Cosmetic surgery…For the public plan to work, it can’t pay for literally everything, which means there will be a market for things it doesn’t.
Apparently getting pushback on this, Riffle tried to recant:
I take it back. We’ll do the hip replacements. Many reconstructive surgeries are ill-advised for folks past a certain age b/c recovery is too difficult, but apparently that’s not the case with this particular one. I do policy, not orthopedics.
Good grief. He who doeth “policy” giveth and he taketh away.
I would also point out that the strict HIPAA privacy requirements make private rooms in hospitals close to a necessity. Otherwise institutions have to install soundproof curtains or room dividers. Riffle isn’t a hospital administrator, so he probably doesn’t know that, either.
Riffle later deleted both posts. But always remember this maxim: In deleted Tweets, veritas.