EDITORIAL: Actions Speak on Obamacare

Jan. 22--As far as we can tell, the phrase dates back to Biblical times. In John 3:18, one can find an exhortation to "let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." By the 1200s, St. Francis of Assisi reportedly was saying, "Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary." And by the 1500s, French writer Michel de Montaigne had turned the maxim into "Saying is one thing and doing is another." Although he probably wrote that in French.

The point is that actions speak louder than words, and that such a philosophical idea has been around for quite some time. All of which brings us to Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, and her party's plans to scuttle the Affordable Care Act.

Herrera Beutler has said many times in recent years that she wants to come up with a plan that better serves the nation's health care needs before demolishing the ACA, which was passed in 2010 and colloquially is known as Obamacare. She repeated that claim Tuesday during a local town hall meeting, telling the audience, "Folks, this shouldn't be news I want to replace the Affordable Care Act. ... One of the biggest promises I made was I'm going to fight to replace it with something better. This isn't a change of heart. This is a promise to fight."

Strong words. But instead of demonstrating this fight, Herrera Beutler's actions tell a different story. During President Obama's administration, she voted with her party more than 50 times to end Obamacare without a replacement in sight, a partisan waste of time that had no chance of being signed into law by the president. And since the 115th Congress convened on Jan. 3, she has joined other Republicans in voting to dismantle the Affordable Care Act while failing to present an alternative.

During the town hall meeting, Herrera Beutler did, indeed, articulate some ideas worthy of consideration. She recommended an individual health savings account in which federal subsidies assist people in buying insurance. And she supported the idea of high-risk pools funded by a tax on insurance companies, providing assistance for citizens who have difficulty qualifying for health insurance.

Meanwhile, leaders in the House of Representatives are moving quickly to abandon the Affordable Care Act before they consider the alternatives. Since Obamacare was enacted, the number of Americans with health insurance has increased by more than 20 million, demonstrating the necessity of devising an alternative that works for people and improves the health of our nation. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the rate of uninsured non-elderly Americans fell from 16.6 percent in 2013 to about 10 percent in early 2016. And still, Republicans are determined to quash the Affordable Care Act long before they come up with an effective way to replace it.

To be fair, Herrera Beutler's focus in Congress is not on health care. She sits on the House Appropriations Committee, rather than those dealing directly with the Affordable Care Act. But the tenor of her town hall meeting demonstrated that the fate of health care is of vital importance to the people in her district, and the guess is that representatives throughout the country are hearing the same from their constituents. Rather than voting in lock-step with her party to abolish Obamacare, Herrera Beutler should, indeed, fight for the good of the people.

In the end, it is essential for Republicans to remember the second half of their campaign mantra to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act. Anything short of that is mere lip service -- a lot of words without any action.

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