Everyone is eagerly waiting to learn about next steps for health care coverage in our nation. Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a top priority for the new administration. As you can imagine, there are many moving parts to this process. This is similar to watching a tennis match as the ball get strategically lobbed back and forth over the net. Meanwhile, the spectators (aka the American people) are forced to watch from the sidelines.
To date, the House passed the American Health Care Act (ACHA) in May. In turn, the Senate released a bill called the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) that is currently out for review. If the Senate passes the BCRA then both the ACHA and BCRA could go to a joint committee for reconciliation. Alternatively, the House could decide to vote on the BCRA.
Thursday (7.13.17), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) made the following comments on the Senate floor: Today, the Majority Leader unveiled a revised discussion draft for legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare. Let me say at the outset that this bill isn’t perfect. There are some things in the bill that, given my preferences, I would do very differently.
But, one thing I’ve learned in my 40 years in the Senate is that, people who demand purity and perfection when it comes to legislation usually end up disappointed and rarely accomplish anything productive. That’s particularly true when we’re talking about complex policy matters.
The next vote on this legislation will presumably be whether to let the Senate proceed to the bill. Regardless of your position on this particular draft, if you support the larger effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, you should, at the very least, want to have a debate on this bill.
Under the rules, we’ll have an open amendment process. Members will get a chance to make their preferences known and to have the Senate vote on them. Taking that opportunity is the very least we can do.
Keep in mind, Mr. President, virtually every Republican in this body has supported the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare more or less since the day it was signed into law. We’ve all made promises to our constituents along those lines. This legislation, while far from perfect, would fulfill the vast majority of those promises.
If we pass up this opportunity, we’re looking at further collapse of health insurance markets, which means dramatically higher premiums and even fewer healthcare options for our constituents. And, make no mistake, Mr. President, while some are talking about a bipartisan solution to prop up markets in the event this bill fails, there is no magic elixir or silver bullet that will make that an easy proposition.
I have to think that, at the end of the day, if we fail to take action to fulfill the promises we’ve all made, we’ll have to answer to the American people for the missed opportunity and the chaos that will almost certainly follow. I hope all of my colleagues will keep that in mind.
No matter what the outcome, everyone is impacted by the proposed changes. From the individual mandate to the employer mandate, your friends, family, and customers need you to be informed about the changes so you can help them navigate the insurance waters.
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