This month, Congress has been working to fulfill the promise of repealing Obamacare in order to pave the way for real healthcare reforms. Real reform means strengthening doctor-patient relationships, expanding choices, lowering healthcare costs and improving access to quality, affordable, innovative healthcare.
While the first step to fixing America’s healthcare is repealing this failed law, we will ensure a stable transition in which those with insurance will not lose access to healthcare coverage. This will allow Congress to move step-by-step on a new set of reforms, listening carefully to the advice of the millions of Americans affected.
For those defending this broken law that is burdening millions of hardworking Americans, there seems to be a misconception that Obamacare was a success and that any efforts to repeal and replace it will tear down a functioning program. Obamacare has put our health insurance markets on the brink of collapse in many parts of the country, and what Republicans face now is an imperative to do something that Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to do when they had control, which is to fix the problem that they have created.
Even President Obama admitted, as recently as October of last year, that the law has real problems. He said “There are going to be people who are hurt by premium increases or lack of competition and choice.” He later called these problems “growing pains.” Millions are facing impossibly high health insurance premiums for plans that they may not even want, costs are going up, and they can’t afford it. Yet somehow, these casualties of Obamacare don’t deserve relief? They’re just written off as growing pains by the authors of the law?
A recent poll by the Gallup Organization showed that a majority of Americans want to see Obamacare either changed or replaced altogether. In fact, since its passage in 2010, there has never been a majority of Americans who have supported this law. A quick glance around the nation explains why. For more and more Americans, there is only a single insurer from which they can select health plans including my entire home state of Wyoming. What does this lack of competition mean? Prices are surging for hardworking families, who now have to choose between unreasonable insurance rates or an unreasonable fine.
After Obamacare was first passed, President Obama promised the nation that “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it.” Now that just wasn’t true and people were kicked off their plans, so I understand why people are nervous that they are going to lose access to healthcare if there is another big upheaval. But we are not seeking to take away healthcare from folks with the repeal of Obamacare. My colleagues and I will look to protect them as we take the next step to fix this catastrophic law. Unlike some of the authors of Obamacare, who said they had to pass the law before they would know what was in it, we are going to know what is in a replacement before we make such important changes to our healthcare system.
Congress is beginning the process to make the changes necessary to improve the system. Another way to think about it is to imagine that your house were on fire. The first thing you would want to do is put it out. Of course you would want to rebuild and maybe even build a better house, but first you need to put out the fire.
Our nation’s healthcare system is on fire. Obamacare is ablaze. It’s been burning out of control for six years. This month, we have been clearing the roads so the firetrucks can get to the fire. The next step will be to put out the fire, and once the fire is out we can rebuild the house.
Once we have repealed Obamacare, we can repair the nation’s broken healthcare system, removing Washington from the equation and putting control back where it belongs: with patients, their families, and their doctors. I hope that is something both sides can agree upon.
Mike Enzi is a senator from Wyoming and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
