Republicans Should Grab This Deal and Run
The reports of the death of the Affordable Care Act seem to have been premature. Just the day before, the president* announced that "Obamacare" was "dead. It's gone. You shouldn't even mention - it's gone." Well, no, not exactly. On Tuesday, Senators Patty Murray and Lamar (!) Alexander, a Democrat and a Republican, respectively, announced a deal whereby the cost-sharing reductions central to the law would continue for two more years, thereby giving stability to the insurance market, which already had the jumps after the president*'s executive order last week that cut off the subsidies entirely.
The tradeoff seems to be that states will be allowed to waive ACA requirements and that cheapo street-surance will still make its long awaited comeback. A purely cynical mind would mention that this essentially allows every incumbent to run in 2018 without having to face audiences whose premiums had drifted out past Pluto. It is a short-term fix, nothing more. As the president* himself said, as reported by The New York Times:
The solution will be about a year or two years. And it will get us over this intermediate hump,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday during a news conference in the Rose Garden. “It is a short-term solution,” he said, adding that the long-term solution is to issue “block grants” to states to help people buy private insurance.
Pro Tip: Block grants still blow goats as public policy, and they will in two years, too.
And it's...wait for it...bipartisan! This guarantees it a smooth reception from the political elites, including those in the media.
The deal between Mr. Alexander, the chairman of the Senate health committee, and Ms. Murray, the panel’s top Democrat, is an important step for lawmakers hoping to shore up insurance markets after Republicans’ failed efforts to repeal the health law. Mr. Alexander told reporters on Monday that Mr. Trump had encouraged him to reach a deal with Ms. Murray. But it remains to be seen whether conservative-leaning Republicans will get on board with the agreement, and whether the House will entertain it. Some Republicans have said they do not wish to provide what they describe as a bailout to insurers.
Maybe I'm not fully attuned to the conservative mind, but I don't see why any Republican with plans for the future wouldn't grab this and run. It's the best deal they're likely to get. It probably will pass unless it gets garroted in the night by the crazies and/or Rand Paul, and it gets the worst parts of the issue completely off the table for the 2018 midterms. Whether or not it's good for the health of the country and its citizens likely will have to wait until we see what kind of Congress those midterm elections return, god help us all.
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