By
LeRoy Goldman
Columnist
Asheville Citizen - Times
November 20, 2016
TRUMP'S OPPORTUNITY—OBAMACARE
The most important question facing President Trump is whether he has
the vision and the courage to serve as President of all Americans, or
whether he will take the path of both of his immediate predecessors
and serve only the half of America that elected him. That choice is
monumentally difficult because the nation is terribly and evenly
polarized. You only have to look at the riots in Oregon and
elsewhere to witness the fear, anger, and dismay of those who won't
accept the result of a free election that they did not see coming and
lost.
It's also the case that what Trump chooses to do right out of the
gate will set the tone for all that comes after. If he's going to go
big, he's got to start big. And nothing is bigger than wither
Obamacare.
President Obama chose unwisely at the outset of his Administration to
embark upon healthcare reform the way he did. In fashioning
Obamacare he and the Democrats on the Hill were naïve and unwise in
both what they did and how they did it. Their tunnel vision cost
them the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. Obamacare has torn the
nation in half. On November 8th Its chickens came home to
roost on the White House.
The Obama Administration's assumptions about its costs and who would
enroll in Obamacare have been wildly wrong. It's named the
Affordable Care Act, and it isn't. Today it teeters on the brink of
collapse as premiums skyrocket and insurance companies flee its
marketplace.
The Republicans for their part have been just as unwise and
bullheaded. The House has voted symbolically 50-60 times to repeal
it, all to no avail. The Senate used the arcane Budget Reconciliation
procedure to get a bill repealing it on Obama's desk that they knew
he would successfully veto.
And now, with the election of Donald Trump most Republicans are
licking their chops. What too many of them want is revenge, a bonfire
that burns Obamacare and hangs Obama in effigy. If Trump buys into
that mean spirited strategy, he will sacrifice his chance to be a
transformational president. Instead he must chart a different and
better course.
What is to be done? Here are the essential elements of a bipartisan
solution: Terminate the Obamacare mandate that forces Americans to
enroll in it. Terminate the program's tax penalties. Abolish the
crumbling Obamacare exchanges. Authorize insurance companies to sell
policies across state lines. Expand Health Savings Accounts. Enact
tort reform. Preserve the option of allowing young people up to age
26 to remain on their parent's policies. Preserve the requirement
that insurance companies not deny coverage to people with preexisting
conditions. And deem eligible for Medicaid anyone now covered under
Obamacare who chooses to enroll in it if they can not otherwise find
or afford coverage in the private marketplace. That will hold
harmless the 21 million people now covered by Obamacare.
After developing the broad outlines of this plan, President Trump
needs to explain it to the nation in a prime time address, and then
take about 20 key members of Congress to Camp David, including House
Speaker Ryan and Minority Leader Pelosi, Senate Leader McConnell and
Minority Leader Schumer plus the Chairmen and Ranking Minority
members of the 4-5 Congressional committees that handle health care,
including also the Appropriations Committee leaders. He needs to
present his plan to them, say he's open to improving it, say he wants
the final product to be a broad bipartisan accord, and say that the
helicopters back to the Hill will not be available until they agree.
If he does that, a new day dawns in Washington, one that is long
overdue, and one that will be welcomed by the vast majority of the
American people.
LeRoy Goldman lives in Flat Rock and can be reached at:
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