Long-Awaited Republican Plan To Replace Obamacare Missing All The Good Parts

It may be three years late, but the Republican plan to replace Obamacare is finally here! Despite more than 40 votes to repeal the landmark legislation, this is the first time the replace part of “repeal and replace” has been spelled out. Let’s check out the dazzlingly new and innovative solutions:

The bill from the Republican Study Committee would fully repeal the 2010 law and replace it with an expansion of health savings accounts, medical liability reform and the elimination of restrictions on purchasing insurance across state lines.

Wait. What? It took them three years to formally present the same ideas they’ve been pushing for just about forever? Apparently, folks. (Although the above quote fails to mention one novel approach in the plan: tax cuts!) Not only that, but the RSC, representing three-quarters of House Republicans, makes no effort to preserve the most popular aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

What about people with pre-existing conditions? RSC Chairman Rep. Steve Scalise (LA) says, “We work with the existing state high-risk pools that are out there… so an individual with pre-existing conditions can go and buy at market rates.” Okay, well then how about the elimination of lifetime caps on coverage, the ability of young people to stay on their parents’ insurance to the age of 26, elimination of the Medicare prescription “doughnut hole”, or copay-free preventative care? All absent from the Republican plan?

Hmm…but surely the Republican plan is crafted to help solve the problem of the uninsured? Nope, sorry. That’s not the goal of health savings accounts, tort reform or interstate insurance sales. It’s almost as if the Republican plan isn’t so much about replacing Obamacare with something that achieves the same goals in different ways…

“I think we’ve done a very effective job at pointing out all the things that are wrong with the president’s healthcare law, but people want to know what we stand for… it’s important that we have an alternative to the president’s healthcare law, so we can put the two side by side.”

The ideas in the bill represent a collection of proposals that Republican presidents and candidates have repeatedly offered over the years. Scalise said the bill contains no overlap with ObamaCare. “This is 180 degrees different.”

This brings us to the crux of the problem when drafting a bipartisan approach to American health care: the two parties don’t agree on the scope of the problem or the goals of legislation. It could even be argued that Republicans generally don’t see the need for action at all. This is evidenced by the fact that the only proposals seeing the light of day in this plan are aimed at extremely modest adjustments in the cost of care, or (as in the case of health savings accounts) who pays for that care. (And, of course, there’s the ubiquitous stab at trial lawyers.)

There is simply no impetus for the GOP to expand the number of covered Americans, to ensure access to at least basic levels of care, to promote public health, improve quality of life, etc… And to the extent that support for the ACA has failed to materialize with the public, they’re betting they can get away with this minimalist approach. Unfortunately for them, Mitt Romney lost last November meaning that long before their plan to repeal and replace can ever come to fruition, some of the most popular parts of Obamacare are taking effect. As they should have learned by now, Americans don’t take kindly to the loss of protections, once received.

By: Sandi Behrns

Sandi Behrns is a noted policy nerd, new media & web developer, and consultant to progressive organizations and campaigns. She is a senior contributor to Liberaland, and the Executive Editor of Progressive Congress News.