THE NEXT STEP in the HEALTHCARE Fight
One of two things happens now, and which one will transpire is not entirely clear, yet.
Either the Republicans pass their disaster of a health-care bill, despite the very clear and public announcement—thank you CBO—that their AHCA bill will harm tens of millions of Americans; OR, the bill will die the quick death it deserves.
IF, somehow, this ridiculous zombie Republican Health-care “plan” does finally die, I propose that the Democrats should advance a TARGETED package of precise measures to shore up the ACA, aka OBAMACARE.
(1) They should propose adding modestly to subsidies for health coverage on the individual market;
(2) they should propose a tweak to the threshold for Medicaid coverage (so as to pull in more enrollees);
(3) They should propose to increase subsidies to small businesses to help them offer health coverage;
(4) they should propose to add back the subsidies the ACA had provided to Insurers to smooth out the risk pool; and
(5) they should propose to add modestly to funding for *publicizing* the ACA, in order to bring in a larger number of enrollees for the 2018 cycle.
All of this is of course stands to serve to (a) improve the reach of the ACA and (b) improve the health-care plans themselves.
I wish the Democrats could propose something else, which is truly needed: a (somewhat modest) increase in the penalties on Employers and Individuals who do not furnish or buy health care coverage. But this would be politically stupid, and given the cravenness of the GOP, they should not approach this topic without bi-partisan buy-in (which they will never get): the GOP will clearly use it against them, even though these would be prudent policy moves.
ANYHOW, the point is this: The Democrats should PROPOSE a MODEST AND POSITIVE AGENDA on HEALTHCARE, once the GOP bill dies (if it does). They need a positive agenda, and this is it. Give voters a reason to vote for the Dems, namely: the Democrats WILL further improve Obamacare (and we’ve seen what the GOP wants to do to you).