Bipartisan effort is only way to fix health care
Legislators need to work together on an issue of such vital importance to the American people.
President Donald Trump has expressed an interest, according to aides, in working with Democrats on a solution to health care. The GOP’s effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” failed when the legislation was pulled due to a lack of support among conservative and moderate Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is open to working with the president to find common ground on health care. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 14 million Americans would have lost coverage next year under the proposed American Health Care Act. Now what? It was clear to Democrats, and to many Republicans, that the GOP’s plan to repeal and replace “Obamacare” was fundamentally flawed.
It remains clear, among Democrats and Republicans, that “Obamacare” needs fixing for a variety of reasons — rising premiums, high deductibles, providers pulling out of health care exchanges and leaving consumers with fewer coverage options. An insurance card won’t do you much good if there’s no insurer to provide coverage.
But, as the Trump administration has now discovered, stopping the momentum of any massive entitlement is a difficult proposition. As conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote, “It’s easy to shout, ‘We’re going the wrong way!’ It’s another thing to convince the caravan to turn around.”
Pennsylvania Republicans were divided on the GOP’s American Health Care Act.
U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan told the Philadelphia Inquirer he would have voted no.
Three other House Republicans — Brian Fitzpatrick, Scott Perry and Glenn Thompson — said they opposed it.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, a Republican representing the 16th Congressional District, said he would have voted in favor of the bill.
“I am very disappointed,” Smucker said in a statement after the bill was pulled. “But we’re moving forward. We have an agenda the American people expect us to accomplish, and I remain hopeful we can come together to enact reforms that will have a direct, positive impact on the people I am here to represent.”
It certainly appears Pennsylvanians had valid concerns about what would happen to their coverage if “Obamacare” was scrapped.
But now that the debate over the merits of the GOP’s plan is over, nothing will be gained by allowing “Obamacare” to struggle or “explode,” as President Trump tweeted.
Pennsylvania has some unique concerns when it comes to health care reform, not the least of which is making sure its seniors are taken care of.
In about two years, one in four Pennsylvanians will be senior citizens. Any reform of health care needs to ensure that Medicaid remains intact so that services for low-income seniors and people with disabilities don’t disappear. And any attempt to fix health care needs to acknowledge that there are indeed essential health benefits, such as maternity care and mental health and addiction treatment.
What we typically see after a hard-fought legislative failure — and this one is no different — is a lot of blame and someone claiming victory.
There’s plenty of blame to go around, but there are no winners, at least not for the long term.
What we would like to see now is the representatives we’ve sent to Washington work with their colleagues and across the aisle to come up with an amended health care plan — an improved “Obamacare” seems to be the most realistic option at this point — that addresses the needs and concerns of Pennsylvanians and all other Americans.
“We must come together to find a solution to move this country forward,” said Rep. Ted Poe after the Texas Republican announced he was leaving the Freedom Caucus, which has taken much of the blame for the failure of the GOP’s replacement bill.
Poe is right. And perhaps this latest legislative failure presents an opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to actually work together on an issue of vital importance to the American people.
Working together to solve problems would seem to be an important part of any legislator’s job description.
Unfortunately for the American people, it has become more of a pipe dream than a responsibility.