EDITORIAL: On Obamacare, don’t make any rash cuts

Jan. 29--"I'm anxious. Scared. I don't know if I will have health insurance next week."

This is how Edgerton resident Hillary Kirking describes her feelings about the pending repeal of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, in a guest column Thursday.

She's not alone. Nearly 12,000 residents of Rock and Walworth counties obtained their health insurance through the oft-maligned Obamacare exchange launched in 2014. They still have their coverage, but many of them are in psychological limbo, trying to figure out how partisan rhetoric in Washington, D.C., will affect them here in southern Wisconsin.

Their anxiety stems from uncertainty over what sort of replacement Republicans plan to adopt. President Trump has said the replacement would provide coverage for everyone, but many Republicans in Congress seem to be hedging on this issue.

It's unfortunate that Kirking and others must wait and wonder whether they'll suddenly find themselves uninsurable. In her column, Kirking noted she has a pre-existing condition, making her vulnerable to any changes in the law. She has become a political hostage largely because of Republicans' failure to articulate a credible alternative, which we believe must maintain Obamacare's guarantee of coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

Republicans had an easy time preaching about repeal when they knew their votes to repeal would amount to nothing under President Obama. But now that their votes could deliver on their heated rhetoric, Republicans are suddenly feeling the full weight of their responsibility. This is no longer a political game to merely score points with certain voters. This is real. Lives are at stake.

Trump's inauguration made clear the GOP never took too seriously their own battle cries. Their lack of unity today on a replacement is proof that the GOP's repeal talk was just that--talk.

To be sure, Obama's crowning achievement is a flawed one. As Kirking noted, she had to switch to an inferior insurance plan this year because of rising premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. Nevertheless, she's been generally satisfied with her experience.

Tax credits to some degree blunt the financial burden for lower-income households, but the money for these credits must come from somewhere, and Obamacare pays for these credits with taxes that many Republicans want to scrap.

This is the GOP's quandary: how to lower Obamacare's cost and still provide its most popular protections. Trump has muddied the debate by oversimplifying the problems afflicting our health care system, and Trump shoulders much of the blame for people's anxiety because his campaign never released a replacement plan detailing how the nation would switch from Obamacare to something else.

Republicans should stop pretending there is an easy solution to what ails the health care system. Americans are facing some hard choices, and Congress and Trump must be candid with Americans about these choices. One thing we do know: Lowering health care costs by revoking coverage for Kirking and others with pre-existing conditions is unacceptable.

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