Quick poll question…

Would you rather die from lack of healthcare or from hunger and homelessness?

I know your answer is neither of those choices. But that was the choice facing seven Senate Democrats and one Independent Senator when they decided to go along with the Republicans and end the government shutdown.

Yes people are suffering from high healthcare costs, but they were suffering from the government shutdown too. Damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Look I get it; I understand why so many Democrats are upset with this decision. Nothing was done to help people with their healthcare expenses. The Democrats really got nothing out of this deal.

But what was the alternative?

Hungry SNAP recipients starving? Government workers unable to pay their mortgage or even afford the gas they need to get to work?

Should they have waited till the chaos in the airways got so bad that planes were crashing in midair and people were dying?

What other options were there? Trump and the Republicans weren’t going to give in on any of the Democrats demands. The government shutdown had gone on long enough. The Democrats were trapped in a corner, and they took the best bad option available.

So now it’s time for the Dems to make lemonade from these lemons.

Every time a Democratic politician gets in front of the cameras and complains about those Senators who voted with the Republicans, they are shooting themselves in the foot. They are admitting they were ineffective. They acknowledge their defeat.

They should take a page out of the Donald Trump playbook and get in front of the cameras and claim victory. Admit that they did the best that they could since they hold no power, and blame the Republicans for the rising healthcare costs.

Blame the Republicans for not putting out a plan to lower healthcare costs. Blame the Republicans for the suffering so many of their own voters are going to experience.

If they don’t get that message out quick, you know Trump and his administration will get on Fox News and other conservative platforms and claim that under his leadership health care costs are actually going down.

And many of his followers will believe him, even as they end up cancelling their insurance because they can’t afford it.

Hakeem Jeffries needs to organize the AOC’s of his side of the aisle and Chuck Schumer needs to do the same with the Bernie Sanders wing of his delegation and get them to change their message.

They didn’t fail by getting the government back up and running. They didn’t fail by putting money back on people’s EBT cards. They didn’t fail when the airlines stopped cancelling thousands of flights. It was the Republicans who failed by never submitting a workable plan to lower healthcare costs even though they have control of three branches of government.

Theoretically I’m against government-controlled healthcare. But realistically I love it. I’m on Medicare with a supplemental policy and my out-of-pocket expenses for my doctor’s visits are minimal.

In fact, I have yet to meet a fellow senior citizen who is on Medicare who has a single bad thing to say about it.

I also have friends who are self-employed or in crappy jobs just for the benefits, that are close to reaching the age of 65 and they can’t wait to get on it.

In a perfect world, I would want the marketplace to solve the healthcare crisis. But for that to happen doctors, hospitals, and emergency rooms would have to turn people away if they didn’t have insurance or the money to pay for the services and let them die.

And that’s not going to happen.

We are less than a year away from the midterm elections. Inflation and rising healthcare costs are going to be front and center. The campaign ads are going to get nasty. If the Democrats want to be successful in 2026, they need to start putting out that message now.

They need to stop beating themselves up and make chicken salad out of this chicken sh!t. Show the voters that they have a plan to lower the cost of insurance as well as the cost of groceries and housing. But they need to get elected to get things done.

For that matter the Republicans that are running need to do the same thing. What are their plans? They’ve been talking about getting rid of Obamacare for over a decade. It’s time for them to lay their cards on the table.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.