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The Trump train wreck
“Perhaps the best thing that could happen is exactly what happened today, because we’ll end up with a truly great healthcare bill in the future after this mess known as Obamacare explodes.” Donald Trump
Trump, Paul Ryan, Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Tom Price lost the first round in trying to replace the ACA due to furious nationwide resistance by constituents in both red and blue states.
Trump’s only silver lining is that he hopes that the ACA will explode. Rather than making a genuine effort to deal with ACA shortcomings, Republicans are likely to undermine the ACA by failing to defend legal challenges to cost-sharing subsidies, declining to rigorously enforce the individual mandate, giving states the right to redefine “essential health benefits” like pregnancy coverage and preventive care and declining to maintain and support ACA exchange websites that troubleshoot problems for patients trying to enroll.
This strategy of blowing up bridges and failing to repair tracks on the ACA train means that the Republicans will own any train wreck that ensues.
Barry Linehan
Spokane