If ACA is so bad, why has repeal failed?
Published July 21, 2017
Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, July 20, 2017.
President Donald Trump and the Republicans who control Congress think Obamacare is a complete disaster. Republican Ben Carson -- now a Trump cabinet member -- went even further when, at the 2013 Values Voters Summit, he declared the Affordable Health Care Act “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”
We get it. That’s their view. Fair enough.
But here’s what we don’t get: If Obamacare is such a disaster and beyond repair, why can’t the party that holds the White House and both houses of Congress simply repeal it? After all, the U.S. House already has voted to repeal or amend the Affordable Care Act more than 50 times since it was passed in October 2009. Nearly all of those votes, of course, faced a certain veto from President Barack Obama.
But what’s stopping them now? Times have changed. President Trump occupies the White House, and has called the ACA a “catastrophe.” Surely it has to go, right?
In fact, if Republicans truly believe that Obamacare is a complete disaster, why was it not repealed the day Trump took office? Why would patriotic Republicans let the ACA harm Americans another day?
In March, Speaker Paul Ryan described the House bill to repeal Obamacare as an “act of mercy.” Are the Republicans now merciless?
Or could it be they’ve overstated the problems with Obamacare and realize that a “clean repeal” would be a disaster for many Americans and many states -- including thousands of their constituents and also some Republican governors?
Since the Republicans are not willing to kill it outright, wouldn’t it make sense to make those most popular features the basis of a new proposal that some Democrats would support? With enough Democrats on board, GOP leaders could afford to lose a few votes from their own caucus.
Neither side would get everything they wanted, but the Republicans still have enough political leverage to ensure a new plan is built primarily on Republican ideas.
What those ideas might be and their merits is a debate for another day. But for now, reaching out to Democrats does seem like a way forward.
Why not try some old-fashioned compromise? Who knows. It could actually work.
July 21, 2017 at 11:18 am
Richard L Bunce says:
Because despite what they say when they run for office, too many republicans are not for a less intrusive Federal government.
If the ACA Marketplace (and Medicare and OASI) are so good... why are there penalties for not signing up and most of their taxes mandatory?
In order to help 30M or so get needed healthcare the ACA screwed up healthcare insurance for the 250M plus who had it.
