The republican party had seven-years to prepare a viable alternative to replace Obamacare. The result was a seventeen-day spectacle that ended in a colossal failure. The stated motive behind repeal and replace was that Obamacare is collapsing. The reality however is somewhat different. Despite lofty notions of ideology, voters recognized throwing twenty-four million Americans off their healthcare was a move in the wrong direction. The republican party realized the benefits they didn’t like-actually paid for the benefits they preferred. And eventually everyone else figured out that repeal and replace was nothing more than political theater and congress was doing their damnedest to make matters worse. This massive blunder offered tax credits to individuals based on age and income but failed to consider the actual cost of insurance. A shoddy proposal that closely resembles health savings accounts-which are plans intended to cover prescription eyeglasses not catastrophic illnesses. The debacle of this bill demonstrates Trumps enduring incompetence. The defeat however, illustrates republicans’ profound callousness towards the poor, children, women and the elderly- our most vulnerable citizens. The reality is all developed countries except the U.S. recognize healthcare as a right of citizenship-not a privilege of employment and their systems reflect this value. U.S. healthcare is 1/6th of our economy and costs 18% of GDP. American healthcare is a fragmented, convoluted system that costs more and provides less than any other system in the world. The perverse incentive of this administration and the republican party to recklessly scrap Obamacare exemplifies the need to improve the ACA by including a public option. Who knew healthcare could be so complicated.
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Discussion2 Comments
When the Trump base wakes up to the fact that their health insurance other safety nets have been removed all hell could break loose. The Republican response to Obamacare represents an 7 year comedy-tragedy of inaction, wasted time money and prestige. They have yet to provide a vision or prove their ability to govern for all the people.
Dave,
You make an excellent point…. that being a governing party is much harder than simply being the party of obstruction. The republican party has demonstrated it is incapable of governing.