General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublicans struggle to find the purpose of their health care plan
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republicans-struggle-find-the-purpose-their-health-care-plan?cid=sm_fb_maddow
Republicans struggle to find the purpose of their health care plan
06/16/17 09:35 AMUpdated 06/16/17 10:03 AM
By Steve Benen
Consider policymaking in a republic at its most basic level. Voters elect policymakers who identify problems and then try to come up with solutions to those problems.
To be sure, this is rarely easy. Sometimes officials misidentify problems, come up with misguided remedies, or struggle to reach a necessary consensus on solutions, but the underlying governing model is straightforward and sound.
In the case of Republican policymakers working on a health care overhaul, this model is being ignored.
When Democrats were crafting the Affordable Care Act, there was no question as to why they were acting. Democrats identified some key systemic problems too many Americans lacked basic health coverage, and even those with insurance faced security risks and then worked on a solution. Theres ample room for debate about the merits of the Democrats reform law, but theres no confusion about the purpose of their work.
With Republicans this year, no one has the foggiest idea what theyre doing GOP leaders are operating in complete secrecy but just as importantly, we dont know what question theyre trying to answer. The solution is being kept hidden, but so too is the purpose of the endeavor.
Vox published a great report on this today after speaking to eight Senate Republicans, each of whom struggled to explain what their party is even trying to do.
With the bills text still not released for public view, Vox asked GOP senators to explain their hopes for it. Who will benefit from the legislation? What problems is this bill trying to solve?
All of them, Sen. John McCain said in an interview, not an uncharacteristic response of his Republican Senate colleagues.
Over the course of the past week, Vox asked eight different Republican senators to explain the affirmative case for the bill. They rarely answered directly, at least not on the bills policy merits.
In any policy debate, were accustomed to asking whether the proposed solution is worthwhile. In this case, however, not only is the answer elusive, but the question is still murky.
A key part of the health care debate, obviously, is evaluating the substance of plans, scrutinizing expected outcomes and policy consequences. Who will benefit and who wont? Will the system be stronger or weaker? Related answers about coverage rates and costs go a long way in telling us whether a proposal is worth pursuing.
But this is a separate question altogether. Vox asked these eight GOP senators to articulate the point of their health care push, and they were generally lost as to how to answer.
Part of whats driving this dynamic is Republican leaders total indifference to the substance of their own partys plan. Both Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell have made it clear that theyre eager to pass a health care bill, but theyre not especially interested in its contents.
This post-policy attitude, however, has taken root and spread throughout the party, to the point that Republicans cant explain in any detail the purpose of their own initiative.
Im reminded anew of something Ezra Klein wrote in March, soon after the House GOPs bill was unveiled: ?In general, writes Peter Suderman, its not clear what problems this particular bill would actually solve. This is a profound point. It is difficult to say what question, or set of questions, would lead to this bill as an answer. Were voters clamoring for a bill that cut taxes on the rich, raised premiums on the old, and cut subsidies for the poor? Will Americans be happy when 15 million people lose their health insurance and many of those remaining face higher deductibles?
[T]he biggest problem this bill has is that its not clear why it exists. What does it make better? What is it even trying to achieve?
Three months later, we dont know and neither do the Republicans working on the legislation.
mn9driver
(4,426 posts)The problems it is designed to solve:
-Keep the health insurance industry profitable and donating.
-Keep the Kochs happy and donating.
-Provide political cover from the millions who will lose or be unable to afford coverage.
-Blame all problems on democrats.
-Get re elected.
wildeyed
(11,243 posts)They break shit and tell their constituents that Democrats did it. That's it.
bagelsforbreakfast
(1,427 posts)"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."
(or was it GOLDFINGER?)
KelleyKramer
(8,969 posts)That is the purpose of the bill
Republicans just don't want to admit it