Don’t double down on failure
If the American people wanted more Obamacare, they would have re-elected Democrats to their majorities in the House in 2010 and Senate in 2014, and given them back the White House in 2016.
The American people want a different approach. They want affordable health insurance. They want quality care. They want to be able to keep their doctors, and they want to make health care decisions with their doctors, not the government.
Republicans have put forward two reform plans that, though not full repeal, are first steps at fixing the failures of Obamacare. Both of these Republican plans protect Americans with pre-existing conditions while offering lower-cost insurance options for millions of Americans who are hurt by Obamacare.
Remember what Obamacare promised and failed to deliver. We were told that: If you liked your plan, you could keep your plan; if you liked your doctor, you could keep your doctor; premiums would go down by $2,500; the Obamacare exchanges would work; the website would be secure; and emergency room visits would go down. Those are all false statements and signs of failure. Look no further than the fact that 19 of the 23 Obamacare co-ops have already gone bankrupt.
The plan put forward by my Democratic colleagues misses the point. Their so-called solution is offering insurance companies a $15 billion annual bailout. They want to take the same Obamacare expansion model that shortchanges traditional Medicaid recipients and use it to hurt Medicare recipients. And their idea to get more Americans on board with their plans is to spend more of your tax dollars on “robust marketing.”
More money for bailouts and advertising is not going to save their failed health care law. Obamacare is fundamentally flawed, and a Band-Aid won’t fix it. Doubling down on failure will continue to drive up health care costs, drive insurers out of the market, and hurt ordinary Americans. The American people recognize that we need to change direction, and my Democratic colleagues should recognize it, too.