For the past six years the Republicans in Congress have repeatedly demanded that Obamacare be repealed and replaced. In fact the House has voted over 60 times to repeal Obamacare but were regularly blocked by the Democrat-controlled Senate under Majority Leader Harry Reid.
When Republicans took control of the Senate the House was able to pass a bill in 2016 to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood that finally came to a vote and also passed in the Senate. President Obama vetoed it.
As long as President Obama could wield the veto pen there was no hope of actually repealing Obamacare. But now, with President Trump in place and with his oft-repeated campaign pledge to “repeal Obamacare,” Republicans are positioned to keep their promises and kill the disastrous and costly government health insurance scheme.
Yet, here we are on the verge of success and moderate Republicans like Speaker Paul Ryan and House Budget Chair Diane Black are desperately trying to simply replace Obamacare with a watered down version that replaces subsidies with credits and keeps the foundations of Obamacare firmly in place. Instead of “promises made, promises kept” the Republicans will claim “promises made, promises continued until phases two and maybe three.”
President Trump was elected on the promise of repealing Obamacare, not tinkering with it. His base of voters are expecting more than what the Republicans are offering. And we CAN deliver with REAL REPEAL! A plan that provides for real healthcare cost savings through more consumer involvement in the process. A plan that reduces premiums through more competition via cross state border health insurance sales. A plan that addresses costly regulations that produce exorbitant drug prices. A plan that puts American Working Families first by making sure that illegal aliens are not provided expensive healthcare with taxpayer dollars. These should be priorities or at least they were on the campaign trail!
President Trump was very clear during the campaign, as were his fellow Republicans, that the goal was full repeal of Obamacare. The House needs to fulfill that campaign promise with REAL REPEAL rather than something less disguised with promises of more to come.
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Joe Carr is a former Republican legislator and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014. Joe lives in Tennessee and owns a small farm in Lascassas, TN.
Personally, I believe there is far too much discussion of coverage, and not about cost. Start by understanding why drugs and procedures cost several times more in the US than elsewhere in the developed world. Really, really understand it and where every $$ goes. Then lock the doors & turn off your phones so the lobbyists can’t reach you and craft legislation that addresses this problem. The bottom lines of pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy benefit managers, hospital chains, attorneys and a host of others are going to have to take a severe hit to address cost. Once you address cost, then coverage / access becomes more straight forward, without addressing cost we face either national bankruptcy or continued cuts in what / who is covered.