Dems wait for GOP olive branch after ObamaCare debacle

(This story originally appeared on The Hill Extra.)

House Republicans flew through ObamaCare repeal and replace solo, attempting to pass the legislation quickly this year without a single Democratic vote.

Now some, including those who helped kill the bill, are calling for bipartisanship. But Democrats feel burned in the process and before lending a helping hand say they need to first see clear signals Republicans are committed to working across the aisle.

It could start with a simple gesture.

“I mean a phone call. Like a phone call, right?” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. “It’s extraordinary how little outreach there has been from Republicans to Democrats.”

For Democrats, Republicans aren’t close to signaling they’re ready to go at health reform in a bipartisan fashion. 

The GOP would have to drop their ObamaCare repeal rhetoric, Democratic lawmakers and liberal experts say. 

{mosads}And President Trump and Congress would have to enforce and strengthen the law — rather than, as Trump put it, wait for ObamaCare to “explode.”

Democrats say the administration would be to blame for any so-called explosion.

“The Republican right-wing is still talking about repeal, so you can’t do that,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said. “We’re not going to do that. Period.”

House GOP infighting killed the best chance in seven years Republicans had to gut the health law. Once that reality sunk in Friday, some Republicans called on working with Democrats next time around.

On Monday night, Trump tweeted, “The Democrats will make a deal with me on healthcare as soon as ObamaCare folds — not long. Do not worry, we are in very good shape!”

Yet, Democrats don’t see that as the way to bring them to the negotiating table.

To Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), it’s about deciding from the get-go to find a bipartisan compromise together.

“Their idea about healthcare is either do it all ourselves — which is what reconciliation is all about — or, well, what we can do is we can do it all ourselves and then if we don’t have 60 votes, we’ll call up some Democrats,” Wyden told The Hill Extra. “You’ve got to bring people in at the front end and say you’re not going to pursue a partisan, our-way-or-the-highway repeal strategy.”

Both parties have learned a lesson: It’s hard to sustain the public’s support for a health policy that isn’t bipartisan, Chris Jennings — a former adviser to Presidents Obama and Clinton — told The Hill Extra. It’s time for bipartisan reform, and the best way to start that is through actions proving the White House’s commitment to strengthening the markets, he said.

This includes keeping cost-sharing reduction subsidies, which help those on the health exchanges pay for out-of-pocket costs. And it also includes enforcing the individual mandate, helping with reinsurance to subsidize the cost of the chronically ill, and continuing HealthCare.gov’s outreach and enrollment activities.

On the subsidies, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and other Republicans have indicated this week they will keep funding the payments to insurers for cost-sharing reduction subsidies. 

Trust has to be built.

“[Republicans] have to come to the negotiating table in good faith, and after having built up some trust because they really damaged their relationships with Democrats by rushing forward to jam through this partisan repeal,” Topher Spiro, Center for American Progress’ vice president for health policy, told The Hill Extra.

Those “trust-building measures” include enforcing the individual mandate and funding cost-sharing reduction subsidies, Spiro said. They also include pledging not to cut essential health benefits through regulation — a provision GOP leaders tried to throw into their repeal bill at the 11th hour to appease conservatives.

To keep the exchanges — a critical part of ObamaCare — healthy, insurers need to see strong signals that Congress and the White House are committed to marketplace stability. There’s not much time left as companies will soon begin filing their rates.

But, Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) said the onus is on the Democrats to begin talks on stabilizing the insurance exchanges.

“I hope that the Democratic leadership would reach out to our leadership, since the legislation is the product of a Democratic president and Democrats in the Congress,” Lance, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said. “I want to work on this as well, but I would encourage Democratic members including Democratic leadership to come to the table, which hasn’t happened yet.”

This week, Senate Democrats will write letters to Trump, asking him to rescind the ObamaCare executive order he signed just hours after assuming office. It was largely seen as a symbolic move showcasing Trump’s seriousness on scaling back the Affordable Care Act in any way his administration could.

“We never said [ObamaCare] was perfect; we’re willing to make changes, absolutely, to make it better,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday, saying getting rid of the executive order is the “first step.” 

On the other side of the Capitol, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked the chamber’s Democrats to send suggestions on how to improve ObamaCare to ranking members of the relevant healthcare committees.

“It would be my hope to create a list of priorities to engage with our colleagues, with social media and advocacy groups, and perhaps even with the President,” Pelosi wrote.

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