USA TODAY International Edition
Pull the plug on the GOP’s health care plan
During the campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to repeal Obamacare and replace it with “something terrific.”
There are many words for the House Republicans’ latest health care plan, embraced by Trump and scheduled for a vote today. “Terrific” is not among them.
You might have thought that GOP leaders would have reconsidered their approach after the Congressional Budget Office found that their initial plan would leave 24 million fewer people with insurance coverage over the next decade.
But no. The fact that a population nearly as big as Texas’ would join the ranks of the uninsured did not seem to faze them. In the days since the CBO delivered its sobering analysis, House Republicans have responded not by going back to the drawing board, but with some modest changes designed to shore up support among wavering lawmakers.
The changes include increased tax subsidies for some older Americans, a work requirement for Medicaid and a number of sweeteners directed at individual members. But their new plan is just as terrible as the old one.
The measure would still fund a massive tax break for upper- income households at the expense of millions of everyday Americans. It would still result in uninsured Americans showing up in droves at emergency rooms and shifting the costs onto everyone else. It is opposed by AARP, the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, as well as several Republican governors.
The House GOP plan would further destabilize insurance markets by repealing the mandate that individuals obtain health care coverage — even though the individual mandate, which puts a premium on personal responsibility, used to be a solidly Republican concept. It was devised in the early 1990s by the conservative Heritage Foundation and embraced by 18 Re- publican senators as an alternative to Clintoncare.
Now the GOP is stuck. For years, it has promised to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, but its replacement plan is little more than less- generous tax credits, Medicaid cuts and a lot of mumbo- jumbo about free markets.
Party leaders are gamely pushing forward on repeal, saying that failure to do so would make them look weak. One of their prime arguments is that Obamacare is collapsing on its own. That is not true. The CBO analysis found that the non- group market is relatively stable. Yes, problems are showing up in some states, but none that can’t be repaired.
Trump, meanwhile, has endorsed the House measure, though he ran in 2016 as an outsider, promising insurance for all and vowing to stand up for the little guy. Now he is in full embrace of the Republican establishment as he pitches a health plan that would devastate many of the people he claimed to be speaking for. On Tuesday, he even suggested he’d rally voters against Republicans who defied him.
It’s time to pull the plug on this sorry spectacle. Republicans should drop the repeal effort, work with Democrats to fix Obamacare’s flaws, and move on to tax reform and other initiatives that would help Americans instead of hurting them.