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As the reality of actually having to govern has started to set in, Republicans have started offering up the idea of an Obamacare “repeal and delay”. The idea is to quickly repeal the Affordable Care Act, however, leave it in place for about three years while they figure out what their alternative is.
The idea is to quickly repeal the Affordable Care Act, however, leave it in place for about three years while they figure out what their alternative is.
Donald Trump has been explicit that there should be zero time between Obamacare repeal and the replacement. The only issue there is that Trump and the Republicans have no plan to actually replace the Affordable Care Act.
The reasons this won’t work are pretty obvious. First, the Republicans have no plan to replace Obamacare and they won’t have a plan because Obamacare is actually the most market-based and conservative approach to universal healthcare. So that leaves only two options. One, move to the left politically and include more government involvement in providing health insurance to people. We all know the Republicans won’t do that. Or option two, remove all of or pieces of the Affordable Care Act and throw 20 million people off their health insurance.
And once Congress does repeal Obamacare, even with a long delay to figure out their plan for replacement, you throw the insurance market into a death spiral. Insurance companies need to have enough confidence to remain in the market during the transition period.
And finally, the idea that Republicans are going to suddenly solve the issue of congressional gridlock to magically pass a wide-reaching health care law is total fiction. Even with their current congressional majority, Republicans are nowhere close to the majority that Obama came into office with.
So when you hear Republicans saying don’t worry we have a great replacement for Obamacare, we just need three years to tell you what it is – don’t buy it for a second.
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