A New Path to Healthcare?

Posted by Tina

Obamacare is on it’s last legs. So far efforts to replace it have not materialized into something workable…the bill was withdrawn. The people still want and need relief. The President has assured us he has not given up. In retrospect the first effort represented a bullet well dodged. We need to start fresh.

Newt Gingrich, the man who led the House Republicans to victory and worked with Bill Clinton to bring tax relief in the nineties, offered a bit of history and some good advice:

Insider health reform was a major factor in killing the Democratic House majority in 1994 – after a 40-year reign. Insider health reform killed the House Democratic majority in 2010, too. Voting for a bill with 17 percent approval might have broken the current House majority.

History has taught us: America doesn’t like political health care. There is a deep imperative for Congress to think through bipartisan health care reform.

Gingrich offers good advice. It’s a bit wonky…read the article for particulars. But he provides context which would serve the process by keeping House members focused on the end game…a better system for patients and doctors!

A series of Tweets made by the President suggest he’s willing to work with Democrats and with the Freedom Caucus to get a bill done. Several items in the news suggest fresh thinking and a new direction.

Healthcare insurance providers are leaving the Obamacare exchanges. The reason is that Obamacare didn’t deliver as promised. The mandate to have insurance included a “fine” for those who refused insurance. It was hoped that this “penalty” would encourage lots of young healthy people to sign up on the exchanges. Turns out they would rather pay the “tax.” At the same time people that were very ill did sign up and the result was losses that have been too severe to sustain coverage into the future. States where this is happening leave citizens in a pickle. Very soon they won’t be able to purchase insurance through an exchange and they will still be penalize ($695.00) for not buying insurance. Two senators have decided they can act to fix this problem even if the whole of Congress cannot come to agreement to repeal and replace Obamacare. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) and Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) have introduced the Health Care Options Act of 2017. The bill would dismiss the penalty when access to insurance evaporates in their state. I’m sure there are other measures that could be passed that would at least bring some relief until Congress gets it’s act together.

Rand Paul was one of the most outspoken critics of the healthcare bill the House Republicans withdrew recently so it’s fitting that President Trump invited him for a round of golf today. Trumps budget director, Mick Mulvaney, joined them. There’s no way to know whether actual progress was made but Paul remarked following the game, “I continue to be very optimistic that we are getting closer and closer to an agreement on replacing Obamacare.” Okay, we’ve heard that song before. Show us the agreement!

Democrats have signaled a willingness to work with Trump, especially those who are vulnerable in the next election. Schummer’s willingness comes with strings. Paul Ryan says he has no interest in working with Democrats. I don’t blame him. Unless they are willing to admit that Obamacare is failing what do they have to offer except a bill designed to lead us in the wrong direction. Still there are Democrats who are much more reasonable than Schummer and the radicals that run that party. I’d like to see a few defections before this is over if that’s what it takes.

Whatever they’re up to I hope they work out problems among themselves behind the scenes. It should include a plan to advise and educate the American people. No bill should surface until they are prepared to communicate clearly and, as Gingrich suggests, show us how their bill will benefit us.