EDITORIAL: Republicans should put their stamp on Obamacare, too valuable and too risky to repeal

Feb. 08--Perhaps the best news to come out of the new Congress thus far is that there is a growing sense that it is better -- politically and socially -- to "repair" the Affordable Care Act rather than, as Republicans have been bellowing for seven years, to repeal it.

To be sure, politics plays a role. It's one thing to promise -- over and over and over -- to repeal when there is no chance of it happening. It was just sound and fury, meant to stoke the fires of the party's political base.

But it's another thing altogether when the levers of government are the party's to control and the politics of taking health insurance away from millions of people suddenly dawns. Thus, Republicans seem to be awakening to the possibility that instead of trashing the Affordable Care Act, they could recraft the law, putting a Republican stamp on it.

It's not as though this idea is without conservative bona fides, after all. Former Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, led passage of a similar law in Massachusetts, understanding not only that adequate and affordable health care is a critical human need, but that appropriate and efficient care ultimately saves public dollars and bolsters the economy.

It was, for that reason, unfortunate that congressional Republicans saw their role as merely to obstruct when former President Barack Obama and Congress hammered out the Affordable Care Act, approved in 2010. Had Republicans taken part, they might have helped to produce a better law than the flawed ACA.

They might, for example, have pushed harder for ways to lower -- or at least slow the growth of -- health care costs. They could have advocated for lawsuit reforms that imposed a greater sense of order on awards for noneconomic damages in malpractice cases. They did none of that, opting instead to fight the law tooth and nail, and then to cast repeated, pointless votes to repeal it.

What they seemed not to recognize is that despite the law's real weaknesses, it nonetheless provided insurance to millions of people who otherwise would never have had it. It did away with the pernicious and immoral policy of denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and ensured that children could stay on their parents' policies until age 26. Those are significant and popular benefits that only the most reckless politician would cavalierly abolish.

Thus, it is heartening that Republicans are taking a more sober look at their options. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee and dyed-in-the-wool conservative, is proposing a more, yes, conservative approach regarding the party's options. "It is more accurate to say 'repair' Obamacare," he said last week.

That's exactly what Republicans should do. With premiums soaring and medical costs still growing too quickly, they now have the opportunity to make peace with the fact of a federal role in ensuring health insurance for all Americans, while introducing some of their own ideas.

It's not an uncommon phenomenon. Obama, campaigning in 2008, opposed many of President George W. Bush's policies regarding war and terrorism but, once in office, continued many of them. It's the difference between campaigning and governing. Reality has a way of asserting itself.

For seven years, Republicans have campaigned against the Affordable Care Act without ever offering an alternative. Now, if they are interested, they have a chance to lead. Politics should tell them that repeal is unwise. Governance should now guide them in making useful changes to a valuable but misfiring law.

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