EDITORIAL: Sick Approach to Health Bill

June 21--Republicans in the U.S. Senate are debating legislation that could fundamentally alter what happens to more than $3 trillion annually -- and they are reluctant to let you know about it.

So, as the Senate debates a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, allow us to state the obvious: This is no way to run a country. Republicans' secrecy in meddling with one-sixth of the U.S. economy amounts to embarrassing subterfuge that should be decried by all Americans.

This, disappointingly, has become standard operating procedure. Remember how the House of Representatives went about creating the American Health Care Act? The first version of a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act -- colloquially known as Obamacare -- was withdrawn after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that it would result in 24 million fewer Americans having health insurance a decade from now. Leaders in the House rejiggered the bill -- slightly -- and then approved it before the legislation could be analyzed by the CBO.

That bill was passed despite opposition from 20 House Republicans, including Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas. In April, Herrera Beutler gave The Columbian's Editorial Board a reasonable blueprint for the process: "Hold hearings, invite providers in, invite groups in, take testimony, get feedback, get buy-in, build coalitions."

Instead, Senate Republicans are moving forward in the dark -- a sure recipe for stubbing your toe. They have held no public hearings and no formal drafting sessions, embracing a process that runs counter to their duty as public servants. That process drew unwanted scrutiny last month when it was revealed that the group working on a health care plan consisted solely of men.

Undoubtedly, Republicans are taking what they think is a strategic approach. For many, the overriding goal is to repeal Obamacare, regardless of how that is accomplished. But as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., noted: "They're ashamed of the bill. If they liked the bill, they'd have brass bands marching down the middle of small-town America saying what a great bill it is. But they know it isn't."

Republicans also will point to the manner in which Democrats have approached health care in the past. In 1993, President Bill Clinton empowered first lady Hillary Clinton to oversee an overhaul of the system. When the plan was presented to Congress, it died a quick death in the public spotlight. And in 2009, Democrats began work on the Affordable Care Act, which eventually passed with nary a Republican vote. That process involved more than a year of hearings at the committee level and finally passed the full Senate after 25 consecutive days of floor debate.

Such debate is necessary again, and a quote from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, illuminates the Republicans' reluctance: "We have zero cooperation from the Democrats. So getting it in public gives them a chance to get up and scream." In other words, Republicans don't want to reveal their plans because people might complain. That represents a shameful thumbing of the nose at the American public.

That public is eager for stability, certainty, and viability in its health care system. Republicans have worked for years to destabilize Obamacare, and with control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, they now own the issue. Conducting the business of the people under the cloak of secrecy does nothing to bolster confidence that lawmakers are working for our benefit.

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