EDITORIAL: Public wants better ACA

Aug. 14--Most Americans appear to believe that federal health care policy actually is supposed to be about actual health care rather than political advantage.

Following the Republican Congress' failure to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act, the nonpartisan, nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a survey and asked participants how they believed the government should proceed on the health care issue.

Rather than pursuing unilateral repeal, 78 percent of respondents -- including half of Republicans and President Donald Trump supporters -- said that Republicans should work with Democrats to improve the existing law.

Trump, exasperated by Congress' failure to overcome the will of the people, has responded by threatening to withhold subsidies mandated by the law and otherwise attempt to steer it to failure. That not only would violate his constitutional duty to implement and enforce the laws, it would drive up health care costs for the very Americans he purports to champion. In a separate analysis, Kaiser has estimated that Trump's plan would drive up premium costs in Pennsylvania by 23 percent.

The survey also should disabuse the president of another notion. He has said that he does not "own" the health care law, meaning that he would not be held responsible if he allows it to wither and die.

But 60 percent of the survey respondents disagreed, saying that Trump and the Republican congressional majorities are responsible for the law's performance. That is more than twice as many who said that responsibility lies mostly with former President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats.

Clearly, the public recognizes the ACA as the law of the land and a crucial aspect of health care access. Trump and Congress should recognize that, as well, and make the law as effective as possible.

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