Voters who wanted change deserve better than GOP healthcare plan

President Trump’s attempt to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with a Republican alternative appears to be in grave jeopardy.

Instead of taking the necessary time to methodically go through ObamaCare piece by piece and develop a solidly conservative plan, it would appear that the bill as it stands currently was a bit rushed. In an attempt to garner support at the last minute, Republican leaders in the House released a package of amendments Monday evening.

Since that still wasn’t enough to secure enough votes, Trump went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with lawmakers and here we are today. A vote on the bill is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., but there is serious doubt that it will pass.

There’s good reason for that.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the bill will raise insurance premiums by 15 percent to 20 percent over the next two years. The CBO also signaled that the healthcare plan contains far less deficit reduction than originally thought, so there will still be a significant burden on taxpayers.

{mosads}With a national debt that’s currently at $19.9 trillion, Republicans have a mandate to do what they can to decrease the deficit — which can be done without harming people, particularly the elderly, disabled, and the poor. However, to continue down this path is fiscally irresponsible.

Republicans have made several claims about entitlement reform over the past eight years, yet they are replacing ObamaCare entitlements with entirely new ones. As George Will noted, “repeal and replace” now appears to mean “mend it, don’t end it,” harkening back to President Clinton’s phrase about affirmative action.

Entitlements should not be considered untouchable and while it’s important to be a compassionate society, we must have constraints — otherwise, we’ll see uncontrollable expansion our already-ballooning debt cannot sustain.

Voters gave Republicans and Trump a mandate to fix healthcare. But the GOP plan is federally oriented, not patient-centered, which is antithetical to conservative principles of limited government.

We cannot pretend that this bill is what voters deserve, nor can we make arguments claiming it’s conservative — because it isn’t. We can’t blame Democrats for denying reason for eight years and then rush through this legislation.

The president is risking the effectiveness of his presidency by supporting this legislation and risks his standing with voters by not keeping his promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

President Trump and Republicans have an obligation to reign in costs, lessen government’s overarching control and make healthcare patient-centered again.

Anything that falls short is not worth passing.

This piece was corrected on March 24, 2017 at 3:04 p.m.

Shermichael Singleton is a Republican political consultant. He’s worked on the presidential campaigns of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, and most recently Ben Carson, serving as his coalitions adviser. Follow him on Twitter @Shermichael_.

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