What Neither the Republicans Nor the Democrats Understand About Obamacare

The 2018 Elections Were Not About Obamacare--They Were About Health Insurance Security 

 

The 2018 midterm elections weren't a tsunami for Democrats--more like a blue wave hitting a red wall.  

 

Democrats are claiming the election vindicated Obamacare because they were successful in gaining control of the House of Representatives by criticizing losing Republicans for their votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act--including its key consumer protections.

 

My sense is that both Democrats and Republicans have missed the critical point.

Both sides don't understand that this was not about Obamacare. It was about health insurance security.

Obamacare's Insurance Exchanges Are Self-Destructing––and That is Why Obamacare Needs to Be Fixed in 2017

Obamacare was self-destructing the day before Donald Trump was elected, and the Republican victory, with their talk of "repeal and replace," has only accelerated things.

Aetna's CEO recently said that the Obamacare insurance exchanges are in a "death spiral."

Cynthia Cox, of the "non-partisan" Kaiser Family Foundation responded that the insurance exchanges "are not really in a death spiral yet." She would know more than the Aetna CEO whose company lost $450 million in the Obamacare individual market last year.

Rethink 'repeal and replace'

This is an op-ed that I authored in USA Today––two years ago.

Wouldn't change a word of it:

Rethink 'repeal and replace': Column
Robert Laszewski
7:29 PM ET January 14, 2015

Obey health care customers, not political orthodoxy,  when proposing Obamacare fixes

The Republicans seem determined to "repeal and replace" Obamacare. They simply cannot bring themselves to consider fixing what they have come to revile.

Being against the president's namesake legislation has been a big winner in at least two out of the past three elections. But now that Republicans are in charge of the Congress, just attacking Obamacare won't work. They have to put something on the table.

However, they need to come up with something better. An effort to repeal and replace Obamacare would be a huge political mistake. There is no issue that presents a worse political minefield than health care. Each and every potential reform means somebody will be losing something and will be very motivated to stop it.

See the remainder of the op-ed here. 

Is the Trump Administration on Its Way to Its Own "If You Like Your Health Plan You Can Keep It" Fiasco?

On Friday night the administration issued an executive order giving Trump administration appointees enormous flexibility in modifying how the Obamacare individual health insurance market works.

Specifically, President Trump has given his administration the power "to waive, defer, grant exemptions from or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement of [Obamacare]."

The administration has not been clear about just exactly what it is they now want to do.

Their action raises a basic question: Why grant this flexibility if it is not their intent to materially change the way Obamacare works in the individual health insurance market?

Will It Take a Crisis to Replace Obamacare?

My interview this morning with Steve Inskeep on NPR's Morning Edition. 

We discussed repeal and replace, Republican proposals for replacement, the fundamental differences between Democrats and Republicans on health insurance reform, and the outlook for what is likely to happen.