EDITORIAL: Health care reform needs a bipartisan solution
The problem isn't just that the
Meanwhile,
Whether McConnell can round up 50 votes on any proposal remains in doubt. McConnell, thwarted in every other move, had said earlier this week that he will take the repeal approach, with a promise to replace the plan in two years. But that idea began to fail almost as soon as he announced it, and just as well. If
As an evidently last resort, McConnell has "threatened" to talk with
Even without the Trump administration's machinations, it has been plain that the ACA needed to be revised. It is, as former President
But improving it -- or, at least, making it palatable to both parties -- has to begin with an understanding of the idea that a healthy population serves the national interest. It's not the wacky concept some opponents of the ACA make it out to be.
Other things being equal, a nation where health is difficult to maintain is weaker than one where it isn't. A case in point is the military's concern about filling its ranks given the nation's levels of obesity. That's not a squishy liberal worry, but a matter of national security.
Health care also relates to children's ability to learn and to pursue productive lives as taxpaying citizens. It means their parents are less likely to miss work when children become sick. It means lowering overall costs, by providing primary care to people who would otherwise show up in emergency rooms, where medical care is at its most expensive and typically underwritten by taxpayers.
This is a legitimate issue for the nation, and if
Many other approaches could be considered to continue supporting private-market health care while providing coverage for those who would otherwise be uninsured. It's complex, a fact that belatedly dawned on Trump, but it's not impossible. It's a matter of political will.
What
Having pushed phony repeal measures for years, knowing full well that Obama would veto them, it is not surprising that
If they were truly interested in producing something of value, they would negotiate with
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