The President, the VP, and Americans Agree: Repeal Now, Replace Later (Or Never)
Just waiting on Congress
Republicans have gained historic electoral wins across the board in the past eight years, and one of the driving issues behind these victories has been their repeated promise to repeal ObamaCare.
In case anyone’s forgotten, the initial outcry from voters was first to reject and then, once it was passed in the middle of the night, to repeal ObamaCare.
It was the Democrats who started the “what will you replace it with?” narrative. Suddenly, the mantra became “repeal and replace,” but the American public didn’t want ObamaCare. On principle. And we didn’t want it “replaced” with some other central planning disaster.
And we still don’t.
According to a recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll, Americans (still) don’t like ObamaCare, and we don’t like “replacements,” either.
What is confounding to pollsters and to Democrat and Republican pols is that the American public seems confused and divided about the government-controlled health insurance market.
After at least six kabuki votes to repeal ObamaCare while Obama was still president, Congressional Republicans were shockingly unprepared to do as they had long-promised and to repeal ObamaCare. They didn’t even have a plan in mind for repeal or for a replacement because, according to Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), they didn’t expect President Trump to win.
Now that Trump has won and both the House and the Senate are in Republican control, we are seeing an almost inexplicable lack of understanding of what they are supposed to do, what they were elected to do.
Americans rightly wonder how the GOP can be flailing so horribly on the ObamaCare repeal; to us, it’s clear: you are where you are because you said you’d repeal ObamaCare. Failure on this fundamental issue is unlikely to end well for Republicans.
Yet they still seem wedded to the idea that they just need to find that one mythical, fantastical sweet spot that Americans will accept as a government-controlled health insurance market. That won’t happen.
Indeed, both the President and Vice-president have come to this very conclusion and have said that repealing now without a replacement is preferable to . . . nothing.
Vice President Pence on Monday said congressional Republicans should pass a “repeal only” bill if they can’t come to a consensus on legislation to replace ObamaCare.
“If they can’t pass this carefully crafted repeal and replace bill — do those two things simultaneously — we ought to just repeal only,” Pence said in an interview with Rush Limbaugh.
Pence’s comments echoed those made by President Trump, who last month suggested that he was open to repealing ObamaCare first and developing a replacement plan later.
“If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!” Trump tweeted on June 30.
What would happen if ObamaCare were repealed? Would Americans eager to spend money on health insurance find no takers? Of course not. Given sufficient notice and freedom from ObamaCare mandates, health insurers would quickly offer coverage to anyone displaced from the failed ObamaCare system.
Mark Levin addresses skittish GOP and their concerns regarding the apocalyptic warnings issued by Democrats.
Conservative Talk radio host Mark Levin debated Fox News host Eric Bolling on whether it would be better for the country and the president if the promised Obamacare repeal was postponed until after Republicans work on tax reform. The segment ran on The Specialists Friday.
“Do we see eye to eye on this?” Bolling asked.
“No.” Levin answered curtly.
“Or do you want to see something passed, Obamacare repeal immediately?” Bolling continued.
“I’ll tell you why I disagree with you,” Levin replied. “First of all, why do we keep arguing about health care in the context of what the left argues. Let’s say they repeal it. And they give them twelve months advance notice. What do you think’s gonna happen? Insurance companies are gonna create policies for 20 million people.”
“There’ll be new insurance companies that are created,” he explained. “You think they’re gonna leave that money on the table? 20 million people are gonna be on the streets and die in this country? It’ll never happen, we’re a nation of entrepreneurs. That’s number one.”
“Number two,” he continued. “Putting it off isn’t gonna fix it. You think they’re just going to easily be able to slash taxes? That’s not gonna happen.”
This is simple, basic logic. The government creates a vacuum, the free market fills it. The free market fills it all the better with freedoms such as allowing Americans to purchase health insurance across state lines, & etc.
Yet there are several factors playing into Republicans’ deer-in-the-headlights inability to function . . . the least of which, as it turns out, is that ObamaCare was passed in a novel way and that parts of it are untouchable without a supermajority to override Democrat objections.
One factor is the GOP buy-in to the Democrat-framed, false syllogism-based narrative that people like parts of ObamaCare; therefore, they must like government control of health care.
When surveyed, people do indeed support coverage for pre-existing conditions, “children” staying on their parents’ policies until they are 26, and other aspects of ObamaCare. However, when asked specifically if they support this coverage being funded by their paying higher taxes, the support craters (which is why the myriad new taxes on the middle classes were buried in the ObamaCare monstrosity).
This apparent disconnect confounds Democrats (and some Republicans). How, they wonder, can voters support one thing (say, pre-existing condition coverage) but not support the higher premiums, higher deductibles, and the limited health care choices that go along with it?
How, they wonder, can they support government control without wanting to be controlled by government?
And there’s the rub.
A Washington Post op-ed by Gary Abernathy, publisher and editor of the (Hillsboro, Ohio) Times-Gazette, pinpoints the problem:
Passing a plan that hurts rural communities through Medicaid cutbacks is a risk. But for many GOP lawmakers, not repealing Obamacare is a bigger risk among voters in those same communities, where Trump reigns supreme and where people don’t look to the government to solve all their problems.
That there are such people is what a lot of folks in Washington have trouble understanding. The campaign by the Democrats and many in the media to save Obamacare relies largely on dire warnings about how many people will lose health-care coverage under the GOP plan. They wonder: How can Trump’s supporters stick with him when his proposals hurt them the most?
What they fail to grasp is that Trump’s supporters, by and large, are more dedicated to the principle of freedom from government mandates than they are worried about the loss of government subsidies or programs that social activists in Washington think they need.
Until Democrats can figure that out, their efforts to pry Trump’s supporters away from him — on health care or any other subject — will continue to be an endless source of frustration.
Abernathy nails it. When progressives bemoan the “fact” that non-coastal, non-urban, non-leftist Americans “vote against their own best interests,” they fail to see that America is still the land of the free and the home of the brave.
It’s easy to ask if you support health insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions, but try asking if people support health insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions in exchange for their freedom from government control of their health care choices. That’s a no-brainer for most people, and it’s exactly why Americans, even those currently dependent on ObamaCare, want it gone. Not replaced. Gone.
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Comments
“Or Never” is the best!
That sounds about right for “Congress Critters” of the Swamp.
RE: “we are seeing an almost inexplicable lack of understanding of what they are supposed to do, what they were elected to do.”
Fake Bill, Fake Congress, Fake Media,Fake President. Obamacare is being revived, not repealed under the orders of the Swamp. The biggest scam in American history is happening, and the media couldn’t care less. Long live Obamacare!
ObamaDontCare has never been Healthcare,
nor has it ever been about Healthcare.
Nah, Trump not a fake president. Nor is some – some – of Congress.
But for the most part, you are correct. The democrats the fascist party, the GOP is the old boys’ network (the country be damned) and the media is…well, as the wild animal handlers of the elected leftists in America, they are the worst.
Donald Trump, Louis Gomert and the like are our only hope. Back them like your freedom depends on it.
Didn’t the GOP have a plan back when Obutthead was in charge?
Yes. The plan was for Obama to veto the repeal bills and, the Repubs being unable to override the veto, Obamacare would continue.
Everything makes sense once you understand that the Republicans do not want to repeal, or even significantly change Obamacare, any more than the Dems do.
According to the USA Today poll 83% of the electorate want some kind of government healthcare insurance coverage. Repealing Obamacare, or even significantly reducing government involvement in healthcare insurance, will result in a significant number of people losing their healthcare insurance. This will seriously aggravate the people who lose their coverage and will engender fear in others that they may suffer the same fate. This makes it impossible for the Congress to do anything, but wait for the collapse of the healthcare insurance industry, at which time a government funded healthcare insurance plan will take its place along with the necessary price control structure on healthcare services.
I think you’ve got it somewhat backwards: Keeping Obamacare (in any form) is what will cause the collapse of the health insurance industry. You might recall we already are witnessing that before our very eyes.
Repealing Obamacare, on the other hand, liberates the market (makes it truly *free*) and thus allows innovation to flourish, maybe coming up with a dud or two but ultimately producing a solution that is win-win for consumer and company alike.
I’d far rather trust the invisible hand to come up with a solution than the hand of Congress.
Oh, I totally agree that the only solution to the healthcare cost problem is for government to leave the healthcare insurance industry entirely. I have said as much several times here. However, you are failing to consider the political side of this equation.
Politicians are in business for themselves. And, they are much more concerned with short term results than they are with long term results. In this case, eliminating insurance coverage for ~20 million people is a short term disaster. Given the cost of healthcare, the people who are likely to lose insurance coverage are not going to be in a position to pay for medical services out of pocket nor can they afford the health insurance premiums without government stipends.This would result in politicians losing their jobs and none of them are going to do that.
Now, one thing to remember is that healthcare costs had risen to the point where most Americans could not afford them without some form of 3rd party payer [insurance], BEFORE the ACA was ever passed. Healthcare costs had been rising at anywhere from 2-6 times the annual rate of inflation since the 1960s. The healthcare system was already beginning to collapse. The ACA is simply accelerating the collapse.
You are kidding, right? ” … a government funded healthcare insurance plan will take its place along with the necessary price control structure on healthcare services.” VA care for all sounds great to me. Ask Charlie Gard’s parents how NHC is working out in the UK. Gov’t bureaucrats sentencing a baby to death. Adult children parasites on their parents insurance until 26?
Not kidding. Where do you think this is going?
There is no way that out elect6ed politicians are going pass measures which will effectively eliminate insurance coverage for 20 million people. The backlash would sweep them out of office. So, they will do nothing until the system collapses under its own weight. And, it will collapse. When it does the Congress will “save us all” by taking over the healthcare insurance industry and providing government funded healthcare insurance for all. But, unless the actual costs of healthcare are controlled, costs will continue to rise until the whole thing collapses totally. So, what will the government do? The same thing that healthcare insurance companies do now, control costs by only paying a fraction of the charges billed. Price controls, baby.
“They didn’t even have a plan in mind for repeal or for a replacement because, according to Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), they didn’t expect President Trump to win.”
All these Senators are pompous asses. Okay, this explains why prior to the morning of November 9th, 2016 you had to plans. How do explain why you didn’t immediately begin working with the knowledge that a Republican president would be sworn in in January?
Also how long does it take to come up with “Roll back all healthcare laws to as they were on January 1st, 2009.”?
WORSE than pompous asses. They are cowards.
Would you believe pompous cowards? How about fraidy asses?
There is evidence that medical products and services are overpriced. There is evidence that pricing controls have been undermined through anti-capitalistic, illegal practices (e.g. single-payer, single-provider).
There is also overwhelming evidence of special and peculiar conflation of health care, medical care, and financial schemes (a la Fannie/Freddie and Obamacare).
That said, despite the left denying intrinsic value of human life, it is incumbent upon a moral society that its citizens have medical care. Ideally, it will be affordable and available as a general practice and not subsidized as a special interest.
Revitalization. Rehabilitation. Reconciliation.
“We can’t pass obummercare repeal without 60 Senators!”
PROVE
IT
TO
ME
If this Senate had 101 Republicans, they STILL couldn’t pass anything. Bipartisanship requires two parties so they would just stare at each other helplessly. But add just one Democrat Senator and suddenly, they would get steamrollered on everything.
You mean, they WOULDN’T pass anything.
The republican party is dead. We have a defacto ‘Trump’ party, which will soon replace it.
This will be the horse that Trump rides to chase all of those Republicans who rode in on his coattails out of office. Americans had a choice between Trump or status quo in 2016. I just can’t imagine Americans are going to embrace those nutty Democrats so it is incumbent for Trump to present again with an anti-establishment alternative. Trump must be prepared to endorse and campaign for primary challengers.
The GOP doesn’t have to surrender control of Congress. It won’t be about who outspends who. Just “repeal and replace” those cancer-selling Republicans who brazenly lied to get elected in 2016. Offer voters the cure. Top of that list is Paul Ryan.
The headline here is misleading. Most people according to that poll don’t want to replace Obamacare, and six in seven certainly don’t want it repealed without a replacement.
The reason Congress isn’t repealing is because people don’t want something they’ve gotten used to, as horrid as it seems to them, and be cast into some unknown future.
People want to feel secure and safe. They want to make sure that they and their families will be able to get medical care that they need, or may need. The reason Congress hasn’t repealed is because no one (including both Congress and those who demand full repeal now and with no replacement) has given the people a reason to believe that they won’t lose coverage or become unable to afford it.
Obamacare was built with landmines to make it almost impossible to repeal outright, and difficult at best to mostly neuter or eliminate.
So, how do we get rid of the monstrosity of Obamacare while assuaging the fears people have of losing coverage or being unable to afford it? I propose the following:
1st: Repeal Obamacare in whole. This will satisfy the many people, such as myself, who simply want to get rid of that disaster.
2nd: Enable and empower the free market, doctors, and non-profits to come up will real solutions. Giving people the freedom to come up with novel and perhaps revolutionary arrangements or healthcare alternatives by reducing regulatory burdens and requirements, allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, making healthcare plans portable between jobs (such as by making healthcare costs an above the line deduction), &c., amongst a myriad of possibilities will give people choices and the opportunity for something better.
3rd: Phase out the Obamacare repeal over a suitable amount of time, so as to let the free market and empowered doctors and others develop alternatives and to give those alternatives time to work. This will assuage the concern many have of dealing with the unknown when it comes to affordability and availability of healthcare after Obamacare is repealed.
4th: Allow people on Obamacare plans to keep their plans by grandfathering them in. This is the perfect response to the lie that Obamacare would “let you keep your plan” if you liked it.
5th: Make it clear that issues not addressed by the free market before Obamacare is finally phased out will be addressed by appropriate legislation. Such legislation will be specifically targeted to address those issues without interrupting the good that the market can provide. Additionally, since this is based on future outcomes, no specific proposals can be made, so no potentially politically dangerous plans can even be offered.
6th: Medicare and Medicaid ought to be treated as a separate issue.
Let’s take a look at your points.
1) Repeal Obamacare. It can be partially repealed and what can’t be repealed can be defunded. So, this is procedurally doable.
2) This sounds good. But, it does not address the main cause of high healthcare insurance, unreasonably high healthcare costs. The actual cost of healthcare procedures is what is driving the cost of health insurance up. And, the cost have been to high for the vast majority of people to be able to pay health insurance costs out of pocket.
3)Again, a phase out is a logical step. However, there is no guarantee that healthcare providers will reduce their charges during that time. Why should they? And, as the two largest government funded healthcare insurance plans, Medicare and Medicaid, will still exist, medical care providers will be able to weather the small reduction in demand.
4)Keeping your “Obamacare” plan is not an option. Most Obamacare plans are beyond the economic reach of most people without a government stipend. Also, with a reduction in covered persons, the insurance companies will actually have to raise rates to cover their claims. Again this sounds good, but is no more viable than it was when Barack Obama said the same words.
5)Addressed by appropriate legislation. It certain would be. Can you say one payer system? People fixate on the insurance cost issues, and tend to ignore the service cost issues. And, the cost of service is what is driving this whole problem.
6) Medicare and Medicaid can not be separated from the health insurance cost issue. They are the two main driving forces behind the astronomical increase in healthcare costs. Healthcare costs have risen between 2 and 6 TIMES the cost of living increase on an annual basis. There is no reason for this, other than the rise of massive guaranteed payers. That would be M&M. If nothing is done about those two programs, then the problem will only be slowed, not revered, or even stopped.
The Dems weren’t fools when they crammed the bill down our throats, incorporating a few poison pill provisions having nothing to do with health care or insurance, to immunize it against outright repeal. Outright repeal will cause some indigestion, but the poison won’t kill us. Repeal away.
It may be time for someone to organize a massive letter writing, phone calling campaign to overload congressional switchboards, like we used to do back in the day. Might be just enough to give a pure repeal the momentum it needs to succeed.
The only thing that works with the Crying Boehners is booting them out of office. That’s going to take a little time.
Repeal now. Right now.
Then move out of the way.
The markets will replace.
The process is simple…
REPEAL. Do now. Do it clean. Just do it.
THEN pass a very few laws that allow for insurance markets to work across states, etc.
The problem with letting insurance markets work across state lines is that we will find a leveling of benefits offered and premiums charged. This will potentially lower California rates but may also send Texas rates into orbit.
This is a complex problem that can be solved only by getting employers out of the middle of rate-setting in order that all rates start from the same base – whether regional or national. Then a return to buying affordable insurance features will happen with rates based upon age, health and credit rating.
We might also want to limit the power of state insurance bureaucracies.
The final necessary change is to rid ourselves of third-party payers to permit the providers to post prices in order that patients can choose doctors based upon real charges instead of no choices at all.
McConnell, McCain and the bunch know perfectly well what we want, and are quite expert at not giving it to us.
As an independent contractor, I provide my own insurance in the marketplace. The marginal cost to continue carrying my youngest to age 26 was a lot less than it would have cost for him to get his own insurance. Had that not been the case, I would not have kept carrying him.
We deplorable rubes can still do math, even if the Prog-Lefties can’t.
Keeping the kids on the policy to age 26 is nice, but it’s nothing I’d lose sleep over.
Please show me just where in the Constitution that the Government is permitted to interfere with healthcare.
Justice Turncoat Roberts has already done that with the 4 open marxists on SCOTUS, he says it falls under the Tax And Spend Clause.
The thought of voting for a Democrat sickens me. Nearly equally as sickening is the thought of voting for a Republican who didn’t vote to repeal Obamacare like they all campaigned on for the past 7 years.
In order to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, we might need to “repeal and replace” Republican Congresscritters.
Wasn’t Pence supposed to provide the leadership to work with Congress and pass Trump’s agenda? He fawningly praises Trump in every speech and tweet. Reminds me of my teenagers: when they are being too cooperative I know they are bullsh^%$ing me.