EDITORIAL: Obamacare repeal efforts undone by lack of planning, selling

Sept. 29--Obamacare -- or, better stated, opposition to Obamacare -- is a central reason why Republicans hold majorities in both houses of Congress. Thus it's important to recall that parts of the law's foundation were offered by Republican lawmakers 25 years ago.

With the Senate leaders bailing out this week on yet another attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), this is a good time to look at the law's beginnings and its use as a political tool.

Many elements of Obamacare -- the individual mandate to purchase health insurance, a required set of benefits, a role for private insurers, low-income vouchers -- were proposed by Republican lawmakers in 1993. Their plan was seen as an alternative to Clinton administration health-care policies. Likewise, the Heritage Foundation, a powerful Republican-friendly think tank, offered suggestions in the early 1990s that are now part of Obamacare.

Back then it made perfect sense for conservatives wary of a government-run, single-payer system to propose something that aimed for universal coverage without shutting out for-profit insurers. By the time a Democratic president promoted those same ideas in 2009, conservatives felt differently. Suddenly, Obamacare -- as they derisively called it -- was going to destroy the nation. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley spoke for many Republicans when he called it "the worst piece of legislation passed in my lifetime."

What may have been bad for the nation was good for Republican politicians. The 2010 election gave them control of the U.S. House. The 2014 election gave them control of the U.S. Senate. The 2016 election added the White House to the mix. A repeal of Obamacare was a central theme in all those Republican victories.

What was great for successful politics wasn't as productive for policy implementation. Republican candidates were well-versed in laying out Obamacare's flaws; they were far-less likely to spell out how they would make corrections.

The bumper sticker read, "Repeal Obamacare!" The place where the how-to fine print should have been was mostly left blank.

Republicans entered 2017 with control of the presidency and the Congress, a mandate to repeal Obamacare and no consensus plan for what comes next. Those specifics and the impact they will make on states are largely the reason why none of the repeal-and-replace bills have made it to President Donald Trump's desk. Americans aren't universal in their admiration of Obamacare, but they fear what might replace it.

Obamacare is in need of fixes to ensure it's financially secure and covers more Americans in need of health care. This would be a good time for Republicans and Democrats to join together and come up with those reforms, sell them to the public and pass those fixes into law.

You can't replace something with nothing.

___

(c)2017 The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.)

Visit The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.) at www.annistonstar.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.