As a presidential candidate and again as president-elect, Donald Trump often declared that his administration would repeal the Affordable Care Act “on day one.” Now that he is president, Trump more recently told an interviewer, “Now, I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.”
Actually, just about everybody who understands public policy knew that health care is complicated. And while Trump appears to have had little understanding of the issue and promised simplistic solutions that do not exist, deciding the future of the Affordable Care Act — colloquially known as Obamacare — is one of the signature duties facing the president and Congress.
On Sunday, The Columbian published a special project from reporters Marissa Harshman and Lauren Dake that highlighted the impact on Clark County of the Affordable Care Act and its possible repeal. While the act has become one of the demarcation points between Democrats and Republicans in this country — and while both sides can make reasonable arguments about what should be done — we believe that curing the legislation would be preferable to killing it.
In Clark County alone, about 114,000 residents have secured health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. This has been facilitated, in part, by the state’s embrace of the legislation, which included an expansion of Medicaid coverage and a robust insurance exchange to help previously uninsured people procure coverage. Locally, the percentage of uninsured residents dropped from 14.7 percent in 2012 to 8.7 percent in 2014.
This makes our nation stronger in several ways. One is that people are going to get sick whether or not they are insured, and leaving emergency room visits as the only option for the uninsured simply passes along the costs to the rest of us. Another is that insurance provides preventative care that helps reduce costs down the road.
Critics argue that placing a tax upon those who choose not to get coverage amounts to government overreach, and that it is antithetical to the American ethos to have some citizens subsidize health care costs for others. These are reasonable arguments that must be weighed against the benefits of increasing the number of insured.
Meanwhile, the president and Republicans in Congress argue that Obamacare is failing as they point to increasing premium costs and insurers withdrawing from the market. This is disappointing politicking, as Republicans have done everything within their power to scuttle the law rather than make it work for the American people. While the law has its troubles, Republicans have worked to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution, meaning that their claims of, “See, we told you so” ring hollow.
Meanwhile, Americans strongly support Obamacare provisions that prevent the denial of coverage because of pre-existing conditions and that allow young adults to remain on their parents’ coverage until the age of 26. Trump has said that he favors the retention of these provisions but, as we know, the issue is more complex than he had imagined.
Therein lies the problem. Republicans have spent the better part of a decade decrying Obamacare, but it took them until Monday to present a solution. In the end, we hope they agree that fixing the Affordable Care Act is more beneficial to Americans than getting rid of it and starting over.
