Gardner can help on health care fix

Republicans are making a mistake. Rushing through a bill that overhauls the extremely complex and crucial Medicaid program and private health insurance system — using a measure that passes the hard decisions about cuts and fixes to state lawmakers — will bode poorly for the Grand Old Party.

Responsible governance would take the time to build a bipartisan coalition supporting reform of America’s health insurance system. We could have supported a bill that was passed with only Republican support that utilized similar trickery that Democrats used in 2009 to pass the Affordable Care Act.

But to not even hold public hearings, to not subject the actual plan to markups and analysis and criticism over a period of time, is unacceptable. To release the bill on a Thursday, receive a review from the Congressional Budget Office on the following Monday and then vote before the Fourth of July recess is chicanery. Democrats held a number of hearings over various versions of the ACA.

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., is in a unique position as a leader among his colleagues. The head of the Republican’s Senate fundraising arm needs to make a stand. Gardner told us Wednesday he would support slowing down to hold public hearings and be more transparent. But not too much time, he argued: Republicans wish to make an end-of-summer deadline to pass this bill so it can help bring down insurance rates for 2018.

That sounds good in theory, but without time to analyze the bill and assess whether it can achieve that goal, it’s impossible to support.

Gardner needs to demand more transparency from his colleagues and be one of the two “no” votes that could stop this nonsense. The senator is a member of the panel that helped draft the bill, which put him in a place to demand much of the legislation. We’re told he’s been working behind the scenes to take input from the medical providers and experts in Colorado to make sure their concerns are reflected in the final version of the bill.

Gardner has publicly called for a gradual draw-down of Medicaid that allows states to respond to the cuts and allows individuals to come up with other coverage options. We’re also told that he’s advocating that children covered by Medicaid are protected from the drastic cuts.

However, since no one has seen the final version of the bill, it’s unclear whether these priorities will be included.

One thing is certain: The American Health Care Act that passed out of the House would be a disaster as it stands now. If the current timeline is maintained for the Senate version of health insurance and Medicaid reform, it’ll be impossible to know if it’s any better before the vote occurs.

Let’s all slow down and get this reform right. We’re not disagreeing with the clear need for change. America’s health care system is disastrously expensive. Our health insurance coverage is unaffordable for an alarming number of people.

And the public cost of the Medicaid expansion is unsustainable.

The solution to those problems is not easy, and should not be done in a rush to score partisan points.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should slow down and make sure the Republican solution to the health care crisis doesn’t do more harm than good.