After six years of pushing for a repeal of Obamacare, some on the right are now critiquing Congress’ effort for repeal. Their arguments do more to confuse the issue than to present a viable path forward for eliminating the harmful effects of this law.
Congressional Republicans appear set to finally repeal Obamacare using reconciliation, a process that allows them to overcome a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and pass budget-related legislation with a simple majority of the chamber’s members.
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Last November, the American people voted for change in Washington. They elected Republican majorities to both chambers of Congress and elected a Republican president because, as a party, we pledged to fix the broken status quo of the past eight years.
Reforming our dysfunctional federal government and restoring sanity to our nation’s capital starts with relieving the American people from the burdens and excessive costs of our defective health care system and requiring Washington to once again live within its means.
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Liberals want to label the Republican repeal and replace effort a failure before the hard work even begins. There is a replace plan, but confusion is raging among the media, perhaps because its details and logic haven’t been explained in public. Congress has a narrow window to use the reconciliation measure early to repeal the law because the procedure is a leftover from the last fiscal year. While the repeal train advances in Congress, the same congressional committees will debate a replacement. This parallel measure will require 60 Senate votes, and the GOP is inviting Democrats to contribute. The replace portion would keep the Obamacare status quo for two or three years to allow a phase-in and orderly transition, but the GOP won’t wait two or three years to design the new system.
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Growing numbers of Republicans showed discomfort Monday over obliterating President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul without having a replacement to show voters. Hoping to capitalize on the jitters, Democrats staged a late-night Senate talk-a-thon to condemn the GOP push.
With Donald Trump just 12 days from entering the White House, Republicans have positioned a repeal and replacement of Obama’s 2010 health care statute atop their congressional agenda. But GOP lawmakers have never been able to rally behind an alternative, and Republican senators are increasingly voicing reluctance to vote to yank health coverage from millions of people without a substitute.
That hesitancy was fed as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., among those who want to delay repeal until a substitute is ready, said Mr. Trump telephoned him Friday night and expressed support for doing both together.
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Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, laid out his ideal approach to repealing and replacing the ACA on the Senate floor Tuesday. Alexander argued for repealing the law once specific plans are in place and for giving states more authority. Alexander only wants to see Obamacare repealed once “there are concrete, practicable reforms in place. … It’s not about developing a quick fix. It’s about working toward a long-term recovery that works for everyone,” Alexander said. Alexander seeks to “rescue” those who are currently on the ACA exchanges and ensure that the insurance market is stable, give states more flexibility with their Medicaid programs, expand Health Savings Accounts, and eliminate the employer mandate. You can watch Sen. Alexander’s speech here.
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A poll conducted by the GS Strategy Group on behalf of the conservative American Action Network, found that 54 percent of likely voters say they would like to see the president’s signature legislative achievement undergo full repeal or major changes.
This week, the U.S. Senate and then the U.S. House of Representatives will consider a budget resolution for FY 2017. It has no purpose whatsoever except to create a vehicle for the repeal of Obamacare.
Congress should pass this budget resolution. It doesn’t commit anyone to any policy choices at this point. All it does is create reconciliation instructions for the chambers to pass Obamacare repeal shortly after President Trump is inaugurated.
This budget resolution has nothing to do with the actual budget, unlike any budget resolution in memory. All it does is create reconciliation instructions for the chambers to pass Obamacare repeal shortly after President Trump is inaugurated.
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By nearly any measure, ObamaCare has failed: It didn’t lower costs, it didn’t increase choice, middle-class families continue to lose health plans they were promised they could keep, and Americans continue to call for ObamaCare’s repeal.
They spoke loudly again this November, and about 8 out of 10 favor changing ObamaCare significantly or replacing it altogether.
We in Congress hear you, and we have already begun to act.
The Senate is currently working to pass the legislative tools to bring relief to the middle class by repealing this partisan law.
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Republicans warned seven years ago that a health care law passed only by Democrats — with no support from the other party — would struggle to survive. The party-line vote to pass Obamacare, they said, was arrogant and reckless.
Now, the GOP is in charge, and poised to run afoul of its own warnings.
As Republican lawmakers begin to dismantle President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law, awaiting the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, they face the prospect of overhauling the American health insurance system without any help from across the aisle. Democrats appear increasingly determined to offer Trump’s party as little help as possible.
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Obamacare has made America’s $3.2 trillion health-care system more costly and bureaucratic, while still leaving many millions of Americans uninsured. To lower costs and improve care, a healthy dose of competition and deregulation is urgently needed. Here are four steps that Congress and the new Trump administration can take:
KEY FINDINGS
- Repeal Obamacare and transition to catastrophic health-insurance plans linked to expanded Health Savings Accounts
- Enact per-capita Medicaid spending caps
- Create a new conditional-approval framework at the FDA
- Encourage outcomes-based payments
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