Trumping healthcare's bad hand

As the White House and Republican leaders continue debates and negotiations on a new bill, the blamestorming continues over the failure to repeal and replace Obamacare. Congressional Republicans have only themselves to blame. Since returning to majority in the House in January 2011, Republicans have formally voted 54 times to address all or part of Obamacare. Six were votes on full appeal. In 2015, H.R. 132 is typical of these efforts. It simply stated: "such Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted." Why didn't Republicans vote on this a few weeks ago? Republicans did not vote on simply going back in time, because they thought government should play a significant role in healthcare. It should not. Crippling regulations need to be changed and the private sector needs to be encouraged. Last month's legislation did not clear the way for these solutions.