OPINION: ObamaCare repeal is dead — let’s bury it once and for all

At a moment when Republicans are besieged by angry constituents opposing the previous “TrumpCare,” “RyanCare” and “McConnellCare” plans, the smart move for Republicans is to formally surrender on their project to decimate Medicaid and repeal ObamaCare. They should work with Democrats to enact a bipartisan fix instead.

For practical purposes, the dark visions of repealing ObamaCare and eviscerating Medicaid have been rejected by the American people and are legislatively dead.

The smart move for Democrats is to campaign across the nation in the midterm elections in 2018 and the presidential election in 2020 in favor of a Medicare for all healthcare system that guarantees every American insurance coverage at an affordable price.

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The politics of the matter are simple. The various healthcare policies of President Trump, the Republican House and the Republican Senate are among the most unpopular and widely despised legislative initiatives by any party in the history of Congress. On a good day, the various GOP healthcare plans of Republicans are supported by barely 20 percent of the nation, or less, and vehemently opposed by huge numbers of voters.

By contrast the various single-payer healthcare proposals offered by Democrats, whether they are called the public option or Medicare for all, are supported by large numbers of voters. On a good day, and with the right policy mix, the progressive vision of healthcare is supported by some 60 percent of voters, or more.

In any event, the GOP plans to repeal ObamaCare are effectively dead in Washington. Republicans do not want to commit political suicide by enacting a repeal that the most nationally respected healthcare analysts and many smart Republicans know would create havoc throughout the healthcare system and mobilize an angry majority of Americans against the GOP in future elections.

The original sin of the GOP healthcare position is that Republicans thought that Hillary Clinton was destined to be elected president in 2016. Thus, they could campaign in perpetuity against ObamaCare, confident that no repeal and replace plan would be enacted into law.

Now that the GOP controls the presidency, the House and the Senate are forced to legislate their promises into law. Their partisan promises to repeal ObamaCare will not work without catastrophic damage to the healthcare system and catastrophic damage to Republicans running for office in 2018 and 2020.

The original sin for Democrats was that even when Democrats controlled the presidency and large majorities in the House and Senate, they were sufficiently influenced by special interests to the extent that they could not enact a public option or a plan to lower the price of pharmaceuticals, both of which were offered but not enacted when ObamaCare became law.

ObamaCare, as enacted, made healthcare better but had substantial flaws that created so much public disapproval that it dramatically contributed to a political disaster for Democrats, at all levels of state and national government, after eight years of the Obama presidency.

Between today and the 2018 midterms, both parties should work to agree to keep ObamaCare with fixes that would improve the system and serve the people and then proceed to a great national debate in 2020 during which Democrats would fully embrace and champion a Medicare for all system.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and progressive advocates of Medicare for all are right about the policy and the politics. Democrats should argue that instead of accepting GOP plans that will increase the number of uninsured by more than 20 million, America should join other democratic nations behind a plan aspiring to lower the number of uninsured Americans to zero.

Repealing ObamaCare and decimating Medicaid are politically dead. Let’s bury these horrendously bad ideas, once and for all, and move on.

Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), then-chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. in international financial law from the London School of Economics.

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