For the past seven years, Republicans have called for the repeal of Obamacare. Lawmakers can make good on this promise Thursday by passing the American Health Care Act.
This bill achieves long-standing free market goals: lower taxes, lower spending, dramatically expanded Health Savings Accounts, and entitlement reform. The bill is merely the first phase in repealing and replacing Obamacare.
This first phase is designed to be passed through reconciliation, meaning that provisions without a direct budgetary effect (like insurance mandates) can’t be repealed through this bill. The alternative is to go through the traditional legislative route, which requires at least eight Democrats to support Obamacare repeal.
Phase two involves Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price using his authority to unwind and remove the regulations associated with the law. Obamacare contains thousands of provisions granting the HHS secretary broad authority to implement and interpret the law, so Price has a unique opportunity to begin laying the regulatory groundwork for free-market healthcare.
Once this is done, Congress can get to work on passing broader reforms that require 60 votes in the Senate, like allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines.
Obamacare has forced individuals to purchase coverage that provides few choices (if any), and is too expensive despite numerous government subsidies. More than 1,000 counties have just one insurer participating on an exchange. Premiums increased by close to 25 percent last year, a trend that will likely increase as insurers continue to leave.
The status quo is unacceptable and change is clearly needed.
The repeal bill abolishes 14 taxes that today siphon off nearly $1 trillion from American taxpayers each decade. These taxes directly hit middle-class families, raise the cost of healthcare, and reduce access to care in Obamacare.
Among the Obamacare taxes this bill repeals is a tax for not buying government-
Repealing these taxes is a direct rebuke of the eight years of President Barack Obama, and the former president’s broken promise not to sign “any form of tax increase” on any middle-class American family. AHCA is a huge win for families and businesses across the country.
AHCA also expands Health Savings Accounts, making health care reform patient-centered rather than top-down command and control.
HSAs give individuals direct control over healthcare funds so they are empowered to make choices that best fit their individual needs and in the most efficient way.
This bill almost doubles HSAs so they become a legitimate choice to provide coverage for millions of Americans. It also allows HSA users important flexibility to spend these dollars.
Today, HSAs are used by 30-35 million families. These simple changes to law will give these families greater decision-making over their own care.
The repeal legislation also block grants Medicaid to the states through a per capita allotment—a long time Reagan Republican goal to empower states and reduce federal control.
The existing fiscal trajectory of Medicaid is unsustainable, and Obamacare only made the problem worse by expanding it to millions of able-bodied adults, an approach with high costs and low outcomes.
The approach taken by House Republicans will restrain out-of control federal spending and ensure states retain flexibility to implement a system that best fits their individual needs. Streamlining the funding process will not only ensure that Medicaid enrollees have access to more appropriate care, it will also cut down on waste, and promote more efficient allotment of resources.
All three of these changes are strong, conservative ideas. Even so, some have criticized the legislation because they argue that AHCA is not full repeal (It’s only supposed to be step one) or that it contains a new entitlement in the form of a tax credit. However, this ignores the fact that a tax credit has become a conservative consensus item that has been proposed in plans released by numerous members including Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., and HHS Secretary Price.
The fact is, AHCA is a win for conservatives that have campaigned on repealing Obamacare for years.
Those who have raised concerns over the bill have a simple choice: They can support legislation that cuts nearly a trillion dollars in taxes, cuts more than a trillion dollars of spending, expands HSAs, and enacts entitlement reform. Or they can support the status quo that is Obamacare.
Grover Norquist (@GroverNorquist) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the president of Americans for Tax Reform.
If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.
