The health care vote made for good TV, but now Congress must return to normalcy.
The vote on health care made for good TV, but now Congress must return to normalcy.
Has C-SPAN ever won an Emmy Award?
Might we nominate Thursday night’s failed partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act for Outstanding Drama after midnight.
If they were awake, viewers were hooked to their screens as they tried to divine the vote by reading lips and interpreting body language on the Senate floor.
The Lead Actor nomination of course goes to U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who once again claimed his maverick mantle by casting the deciding vote a week after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine earn a place on the award shortlist for holding the line against repeal.
As McCain told reporters before the vote: “Watch the show.” He didn’t disappoint.
Besides, viewing Congress through the lens of a television show is certainly easier than confronting the sad reality in Washington D.C. — we were one vote away from stripping health insurance coverage from millions of Americans.
Members of groups like National Nurses United and Adapt, a disability rights organization, didn’t commit acts of civil disobedience and risk arrest in our nation’s Capitol for the glitz and glamor of it all. The AARP and American Cancer Society weren’t writing letters to Congress to help raise the stakes before the dramatic climax. Americans weren’t flooding the phones of their representatives with the hopes of talking to a celebrity on the other end.
They were all fighting to stop us from backsliding to a time when a medical emergency could mean bankruptcy and life-and-death decisions were based on pocketbook interests.
It is time to stop acting like healthcare is some television show, and there should be no patience for a horror story ending where the seemingly dead repeal bill comes back to life.
The moral question of health care in America has been settled: Everyone deserves coverage. Our elected officials need to refocus on the basics of making that happen.
So if Congress wants to watch something on TV, might we recommend reviewing those old Schoolhouse Rock videos on how a bill becomes a law. Bipartisan committee hearings are the starting point.
The White House, too, must help reestablish a normal order in Washington. So far, Donald Trump’s threats to deny cost-sharing subsidies have only succeeded at scaring insurance companies out of risky markets. The buck stops with the president and he hasn’t once articulated a vision of what healthcare policy should look like. At no point either on the campaign trail or in office has he demonstrated a working knowledge of Obamacare, Medicaid or the basics of health insurance beyond a general message of universal coverage. If Trump supports Medicare-for-all, then we welcome him to come out and say it.
Closer to home, the continued existence of Obamacare means that Texans can once again call upon our state Legislature to expand Medicaid. Too many fall through the gap that exists between subsidized private insurance and single-payer Medicaid. Expansion also means federal dollars to fund public hospitals. This takes the burden off property taxes and opens the door to lower rates for homeowners.
Finally, the Republican Party has to reckon with its inability to govern. For the past seven years, Obamacare has been maligned as a radioactive policy and voters have been promised repeals, replacements and everything under the sun if Democrats were only driven from power. The Grand Old Party finally got its wish.
So where’s the repeal? Where’s the replacement? Turns out that Republicans were unable, after seven years, to craft a better health care plan than the status quo.
Responsibility now falls on the Republican-led Congress to do the difficult and boring policy work of improving the Affordable Care Act and ensuring that each American has access to health care.
It won’t make for gripping television, but the award for a job well done will rest in voting booths and history books.
The moral question of health care in America has been settled: Everyone deserves coverage. Our elected officials need to refocus on the basics of making that happen.