Who's the reason for the failure from the Republican bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare? Who cares?
What matters now's that Democrats stop gloating, Republicans stop sulking and every party come to the table to improve any adverse health care system that both sides agree needs work.
After the bill collapsed on Friday afternoon, President Trump accused the Democrats of obstruction, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer accused obama of incompetence, Speaker Paul Ryan said health care ended and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi bragged it's a great day. No one had the courage to get the pieces and point the way forward.
The Affordable Care Act has provided health care coverage to millions more Americans, but there are still some $ 30 million without any insurance. Premiums are too high. The person mandate isn't encouraging enough individuals to buy into the machine.
Some of their regulations and taxes make little sense. Insurance financial markets are too thin, providing consumers too little choice. Healthcare savings accounts do not enough to encourage savings.
Republicans have viable ideas to address these issues, including high-risk insurance pools and capping the tax exclusion that companies get for providing employees with medical health insurance. It's regrettable that none of those ideas was seriously considered in the rush to repeal ObamaCare.
Equally regrettable is the fact that Republicans appear to be giving up and moving on to other conditions. If they can't get everything they need, they appear to possess concluded, they'll take nothing.
It's a poor strategy. As Sen. John McCain said Saturday, Republicans need Democrats to reform health care. The art of governing is compromise – and not just inside the majority party. The sooner Ryan accepts the fact that Democrats can be a cudgel to make use of against the Freedom Caucus, the more successful he and Congress will be.
Ronald Reagan was recognized to state that he'd happily take 70 or 80 % of what he wanted and come back for the rest later. Yet instead of living by Reagan's rule, Republicans are hung up on the Hastert Rule, named for Dennis Hastert, the previous (and today disgraced) House speaker: Only bills that may cope with without Democratic votes are delivered to the floor.
This led the party to produce a deeply flawed healthcare bill that, ultimately, didn't win strong support in the Republicans' moderate or Tea Party wings.
At the same time frame, Democrats steadfastly refused to achieve over the aisle to produce a bipartisan alternative. Gloating only makes that more difficult.
On Friday, Schumer said that Democrats will be ready to work with Republicans to improve the Affordable Care Act on a single condition: that Republicans take repeal off the table. This isn't an auspicious step. Democrats ought to allow Republicans to call a brand new bill whatever they want. The details are what matters, not the label.
