Trump should reach out to Dems on health care

While the failure last week on the part of President Donald J. Trump and GOP leaders in Congress to repeal and replace “Obamacare” dominated the headlines, the subtext of the issue was just as important.

After Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin yanked the repeal/replace bill when it became clear that enough Republicans opposed it to ensure its defeat, two of the most powerful officeholders in the country resorted to petty politics.

Trump and Ryan were barely able to contain themselves as they discussed the prospects of “Obamacare” collapsing under the weight of skyrocketing insurance premiums.

But while they were indulging in political wishful thinking, a basic truth was ignored: The failure of the Affordable Care Act, signed into law by Democratic President Barack Obama seven years ago, will leave millions of Americans without health care.

Indeed, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analyzed the GOP repeal/replace bill and concluded that 24 million Americans would lose their health insurance coverage.

In light of this assessment, Trump’s very aggressive support for the measure developed by Speaker Ryan and other GOP leaders in Congress seemed over the top.

Why? For the simple reason that on Jan. 14, six days before he was sworn in as president, Trump told the Washington Post he was nearing completion of a plan to replace “Obamacare.”

The president-elect told the Post that his plan would ensure “[health] insurance for everybody.” He also said that he intended to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid, the newspaper reported.

“As he has developed a replacement package, Trump said he has paid attention to critics who say that repealing Obamacare would put coverage at risk for more than 20 million Americans covered under the law’s insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion,” the Post reported on Jan. 15.

‘Great health care’

In discussing his goal of health insurance for all, the then president-elect told the newspaper, “We’re going to have insurance for everybody. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.” He added that people covered under the law “can expect to have great health care. It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.”

As for his intention to go after the pharmaceutical industry, Trump told the Washington Post: “They’re politically protected, but not anymore.”

However, a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to last week’s showdown over the Republican plan to repeal and replace “Obamacare”: Trump’s goal of insurance for all and his pledge to crack down on Big Pharma were nowhere to be found.

Instead, Speaker Ryan and his lieutenants went to such extremes with the American Health Care Act that it rallied Democrats in Congress to unify in their opposition. More importantly, moderate Republicans let it be known that they were not willing to jeopardize the health-care coverage their constituents are receiving through the insurance exchanges and Medicaid.

After last week’s legislative debacle, President Trump sought to blame Democrats for not getting behind the GOP bill. However, had Trump reached out to the minority party in Congress with the plan that he outlined for the Washington Post, chances are there would have been bipartisan buy-in.

After all, Democrats have long advocated health-insurance coverage for all Americans and have long complained about the high cost of prescription drugs.

Rather than wait for “Obamacare” to collapse so he can say, “I told you so,” the president should reach out to Democrats in Congress and talk about how the problems with the Affordable Care Act can be addressed.

Trump should also convene a White House conference and invite representatives of the professional and grass-roots organizations that opposed the GOP repeal and replace law.

He needs to hear from doctors, nurses and hospital administrators who are on the front lines of providing health care.

And, he should talk to small businessmen and women who have a difficult time navigating the Affordable Care Act.