President Trump was gracious to not point blame for the Republican failure to pass the American Health Care Act in the House today. He was also gracious in not throwing Speaker Ryan and other individuals under the bus for the failure of the Republicans to pass the AHCA.
President Trump and Speaker Ryan were gracious in pulling the proposed bill, so as not to expose who would have voted against it. Fine!
But in my mind the Republicans blew it
They have a supportive Republican president. The Republicans control, narrowly, both houses of Congress. And they have the support of the American people to repeal and replace the UCA. The Republicans did not promise how they would repeal it, so they tried to work within the legislative constraints they had to work with.
They were within a few votes of having 216 Republican votes to pass phase one of repealing a law that's imploding and making people's lives worse. We will now see how that plays out, and it will not be pretty.
Some people were impacted by the scare tactics against the AHCA. Some people were impacted by the false and misleading advertising by some organizations. And some people were impacted by the "comfort" of their current health care and health insurance situation.
But that is about to change dramatically. Health insurance premiums and deductibles are about to go up for 2018, while insurance accessibility will go down. Just look at what has happened in the last seven years!
Repealing and replacing the UCA has long been a top priority of the voters. This would have been a great first step. Many of those who opposed the AHCA never clearly expressed their objections, which makes me suspect of their motives. I followed and studied this proposal closely, and there was a lot more good in it than reasons for the nitpicking concerns.
The Republicans blew it!
I'm not just passionate. I'm angry!
