EDITORIAL: GOP should end its rush to kill Obamacare

March 24--President Donald Trump was right. Health care is exceedingly complicated.

Maybe that fact finally dawned on congressional Republicans, who abruptly postponed Thursday's scheduled vote to gut the Affordable Care Act.

Despite a plethora of amendments, and a presidential threat to retaliate against opponents, GOP leaders couldn't round up enough votes to get their bill through the House of Representatives.

The Republicans' war on Obamacare isn't over.

But repeal efforts have exposed a chasm between conservatives opposed to almost any federal role in the health insurance market and moderates who want to retain some aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

Trump has one foot solidly planted in each camp, promising better coverage at a lower cost during his campaign and pressuring recalcitrant Republicans to go along with legislation that would deliver the opposite result.

About 20 million people have gained health insurance since the Affordable Care Act took effect, but an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office concluded that 14 million would lose their health insurance within the first year if the Republican bill became law. In a decade, more than 52 million Americans would lack health insurance -- almost double the present number.

The message from public opinion polls and overflow crowds at town hall meetings hosted by House members around the country is unmistakable. A solid majority of Americans want to protect the gains delivered by the Affordable Care Act.

That isn't to say Obamacare isn't without flaws.

While he was in office, Barack Obama repeatedly offered to work with critics. On Thursday, he repeated his call to seek out improvements.

"I've always said we should build on this law, just as Americans of both parties worked to improve Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid over the years," Obama wrote in a lengthy message to supporters that concluded, "but we should start from the baseline that any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hard-working Americans."

That would include exploring ways to contain the cost of health care, fostering greater competition on the state health insurance exchanges and persuading those states that haven't expanded access to their Medicaid programs to do so.

House Republican leaders, in their zeal to kill Obamacare on the seventh anniversary of its enactment, gave into conservative demands to scrap basic standards such as coverage of maternity care, emergency services and mental health. But some moderate Republicans balked at the removal of benefits their constituents depend on. The result was an impasse, which apparently resulted in the embarrassing decision to put off Thursday's vote.

GOP leaders could bring the bill up at any time, perhaps even today. But they ought to reassess the political landscape. Public opposition is growing -- a Quinnipiac Poll released Thursday showed Americans oppose the bill by a 3-1 margin -- as is criticism from Republican governors, who would have to deal with the consequences of any new health care legislation.

Republicans accused Democrats of jamming the Affordable Care Act through Congress. But the year-long process, with town hall meetings, public hearings and a Senate debate spread across 25 days, was a model of transparency compared to the GOP's rush to repeal.

Again, the president was right. Health care is complicated -- and making hasty changes would be political malpractice.

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