EJ Dionne writes that we have more important things to do than revisit the Affordable Care Act in an attempt to repeal it, given a repeal's sure-fire rejection by the Senate and president. Republicans aren't even up-front about the legislation they're trying to repeal, creating false standards for legislation which is being phased in slowly -- over a period of years.
...Perhaps they should explain why it's fair to hold the 10-month-old health-care law to this standard while they insist on continuing the Bush tax cuts, which, after a decade, still haven't produced the jobs they were supposed to create. Please note that I could have described the impact of the Bush tax cuts less charitably.
And House Republicans are offering nothing concrete to improve health care legislation or, of course, replace it with an equally effective cost-cutting system.
...It would also be hugely helpful if the Republicans began to detail what they would put in place of the existing law, and how their ideas would expand coverage, hold down costs and contain the long-term deficit. Constructive alternatives are essential to productive debate.
The president declared that we can all use "a good dose of humility." Absolutely. In that spirit, the Republican leadership could graciously change its mind on the rules governing consideration of this bill and allow some amendments to be voted on.
How about a real discussion about making health care better managed and more affordable , not just tossing an embittering and divisive attempt at repeal at exhausted constituents?
For their part, those who believe the new law is a large step in the right direction and that repealing it would be a terrible mistake should freely acknowledge that it's not perfect and could use improvement. They should welcome bipartisan efforts to make it better.
Many supporters of the law already think it should cover more people, could usefully include a public option and do more to control future health-care costs. The truth is that nobody has a monopoly on health-care wisdom and so, as the prophet Isaiah said, "Come, let us reason together."
I don't think this was ever about "reasoning together." It's about the Republican party's attempt to improve party cohesion. They're willing to do so at great cost to the average ailing and financially broken Americans they're supposed to represent.
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Given the unlikelihood of repeal of health care legislation, the Republicans are focusing on workarounds to destroy much of the original bill. The Hill reports on one Texas representative who will aim freeing up insurers ability to overcharge and underpay.
Republican Conference Secretary John Carter (R-Texas) is trying to build momentum for a Congressional Review Act (CRA) challenge to a recent regulation that requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of their premium dollars (85 percent in the large group market) on healthcare services.
The House GOP majority is expected to approve legislation Wednesday that would repeal the reform law, but the Democratic-controlled Senate will block it. With no way forward on the bill, the GOP will turn its attention to attacking Obama administration regulations in an attempt to weaken the healthcare law.
Carter used the annual Republican retreat this past weekend to try to generate support for a CRA challenge to the so-called medical loss ratio (MLR) requirements for insurers, spokesman John Stone told The Hill.
Rep. Carter gets a good chunk of his financial support from the "Health Professionals" industry and, as one Texas blogger has catalogued, he has an "atrocious" record on health care votes, denying parity for mental health, denying funds for children's health care, and voting against prescription drug cost relief for needy seniors -- and that's just a start. The American Public Health Association gives him a fat goose egg for his voting record on health issues.
