Suggestions For A Bipartisan Approach On Health Care

In the wake of Senate Republicans’ failure to roll back key features of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there is renewed interest in exploring a bipartisan approach. Following their votes that halted action on the Senate repeal legislation, Senators John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski called for a bipartisan fix for health insurance markets. A coalition of nearly 40 House Republicans and Democrats, dubbed the Problem Solvers Caucus, has advanced a proposal to stabilize individual insurance markets and encourage state experimentation. Although it is unclear whether such efforts will bring opposing sides together, these are important developments. Major social legislation is more stable when there is support from members of both parties. A major flaw of the ACA is that it was passed with only Democratic votes, which reduced acceptance of the law among a large segment of the electorate. Political instability can lead to programmatic instability, as is now clear with a Republican administration in charge of implementing key features of a law it is trying to repeal. The willingness of a growing number of lawmakers to consider a bipartisan approach provides an opportunity to build a more stable foundation for health policy in coming years, but only if the effort is aimed at the right goal. For months, many House and Senate Democrats have said that they were open to sitting down with Republicans to discuss how to improve the ACA. That is the wrong goal, and Republicans s...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage Payment Policy Quality ACA repeal and replace American Health Care Act bipartisanship Source Type: blogs