GOP, Trump fail to trash Obama legacy

The GOP’s ineptness at replacing Obamacare has openly exposed their true motivation behind plans to rewrite health care.

The Republicans — and President Donald Trump in particular — are just determined to get rid of anything with former President Obama’s name on it.

If that means millions of Americans will suffer, so be it. At least Trump and the GOP can say they trashed a big part of Obama’s legacy.

And now, after seven years of trying — and with total control of the House, the Senate and the presidency — it appears they can’t do anything about health care.

It became obvious this week that Trumpcare did not have enough GOP support to pass. End of Plan A.

On Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came up with Plan B — they could repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement for two years. Trump was in favor of that idea, even though the Congressional Budget Office said that would leave 18 million people without health care next year, growing to 32 million by 2026.

By noon, McConnell learned he wouldn’t have the 52 votes needed to repeal with no replacement. End of Plan B.

So now the GOP is left with Plan C. Trump explained it with his usual lack of detail. “Let Obamacare fail,” he said, adding “I’m not going to own it.”

Trump expressed disappointment that the Senate could not get the needed 52 votes to pass Trumpcare, but he has to take part of the blame.

The plan was wildly unpopular with the vast majority of Americans — polls showed it had less than 20 percent support — but the president hardly overworked himself trying to get reluctant senators on board.

Trump spent a couple of days last week in Paris celebrating Bastille Day. Then, over the weekend, instead of trying to sway senators to back the plan, he spent two days at a golf tournament in New Jersey.

And then he came out Tuesday, lamenting that he was dismayed the Senate couldn’t deliver on the GOP’s most publicized promise of the last campaign.

Don’t overlook the fact that three female Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — went on record refusing to support repeal with no replacement. (Thirteen male senators comprised the initial health care reform group.) The three moderate senators weren’t about to create a health care crisis just for the sake of removing Obama’s name.

“As I have said before,” Capito said in a statement, “I did not come to Washington to hurt people.”

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio supported Trumpcare, and when that failed, he said on Facebook live that he would be in favor of “repeal now and replace later.”

“The idea that somehow Obamacare is working well for people is just absolutely wrong,” Rubio said Tuesday. “If we keep doing (Medicaid) the way we are doing now, that program goes bankrupt along with Medicare and Social Security.”

Make no mistake, if Trumpcare passed, it would have hurt people. The CBO estimated 22 million more people would have eventually lost or be forced to go without health coverage.

As far as Obamacare failing, it was a Republican myth simply not backed up by facts.

Yes, the Affordable Care Act should be tweaked, hopefully in a bipartisan way. People need more choices, as many health care providers left the marketplace.

Yet a recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation spoke to Obamacare’s relative health, saying insurers earned twice as much per policyholder year over year in the first three months of 2017. Companies were predicted to make a profit this year after a couple of years of losses.

And a recent Kaiser poll showed more than 50 percent of Americans viewed Obamacare favorably. That’s considerably higher than Trump’s favorability numbers.

It is high time for Republicans and Democrats to work together to strengthen health care, without worrying about whose name is on the bill.

Senators were sent to Washington to help the American people, not to get rid of Obama’s legacy. They need to do their job.