Forfeiting the healthcare fight

What happened last week with Republican efforts to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA) is what frustrates people with politics.

After attempts to garner support for this bill that would replace Obamacare, Speaker Paul Ryan pulled it, and it never faced a vote in the House of Representatives. The support was not there, so not subjecting it to a vote was understandable, but how did it get to that place? How is it that after seven years of complaining — rightfully so — about Obamacare there was no plan upon which Republicans could agree? After President Trump spent months campaigning on a promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, how does he expect that a bill many argue is not a repeal at all but is, rather, Obamacare-lite, would be embraced? Granted, the president is not responsible for writing the legislation. This falls on Ryan, but Trump’s fingerprints should be all over it. The counsel he has received should be evident throughout it. And his awareness that this was not going to fly should have brought major changes to it. Did it have good things in it? No doubt. Defunding Planned Parenthood, for example, was a biggie. But all should have known this was not going to get it over the finish line.

Where was the ability to purchase across state lines? Where was the long-term affordability? The absence of these was not going to sit well with many Republican leaders and many of the American people.

The answer to these concerns and more was that this was Phase 1, with two more phases coming. We were all asked to trust the process, to trust that each phase would include more of what had been promised. This, unfortunately, was too much of a reminder of Nancy Pelosi’s assertion that we had to pass the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, so we could find out what was in it. It made no sense then, and it makes no sense now. Why would Ryan push something that he knew was incomplete in its promise and then ask everyone to just trust him? Trust the GOP? Based on what? Its history? If our elected officials had given us reason to blindly trust them, Congress’s approval numbers wouldn’t be in the tank, and seasoned politicians probably wouldn’t have gotten spanked in the presidential election by an outsider.

Key to many — including myself — was this: why was there still a penalty for the uninsured? A mandate that benefits insurance companies rather than the government is still a mandate. It still goes against what should be every American’s right: not to purchase something.

Everyone knows progress requires compromise. The Freedom Caucus, a staunch opponent of the AHCA, needs to be able to accept this going forward, but this wasn’t just about rejecting compromise. This was about coming up with something that would repeal and replace Obamacare, and this apparently did not.

I’m more concerned with the response to the bill’s failure than I am with the failure itself. I am bothered by the mindset that since it didn’t pass the smell test, Republicans simply move on. After years of promising that given a chance, they would do right by Americans, they walk away rather than figuring out something that really works. Republicans have the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate, yet they still could not get it done. I am not throwing our president under the bus because the GOP didn’t make it work. But I don’t like the reaction in the wake of it. Tell me please why Republicans did not hunker down all night, all weekend, working to rectify this flop. If Obamacare is the disaster everyone knows it is, if they truly believe we can do better by everyone, why not fight harder and dig deeper? Why the decision to simply let it go? Obamacare is still the law of the land — though Republicans run the show.

Of course, many on the left are rejoicing at the news that the bill was pulled, as they deem this a Trump failure. They don’t care if Obamacare failed people with former President Obama’s “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” promise, which proved to be false. They don’t care if premiums have shot through the roof and will continue to skyrocket. They care that the president who prides himself on having mastered “the art of the deal” could not seal the deal. They are committed to the current healthcare law because they are committed to the man whose name is on it rather than the people hurt by it. A shame.

Health care should not be partisan. Too much is at stake. But now, the Trump administration moves on to tax reform. Much needed. Let’s hope we can get some bipartisanship and some real solutions because the last thing I want to see after the rush to abandon the healthcare fight is another quick “Next!” as we run down the list of campaign promises.

Adrienne Ross is an editor, writer, public speaker, former teacher and coach, Southeast Missourian editorial board member and owner of Adrienne Ross Communications.