Republicans Right on 'Repeal' But Absent on 'Replace

Even knowing that President Barack Obama would (and did) immediately veto the Obamacare repeal bill (Restoring Americans Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015, H.R. 3762) Congress was absolutely right to pass it.

I have read comments online from people saying it was simply a political stunt or a waste of taxpayer dollars. Not so.

[sharequote align="center"]Expecting Washington to fix healthcare is waiting for cancer to cure cancer.[/sharequote]

Regardless of which party is in the majority, Congress has an obligation to move legislation forward that it feels is proper. That is their job. If they let the mere verbal threat of veto by the Executive branch they fail in their duty by giving up without a fight.

Some might claim that my support for Congress’ passage of H.R. 3762 is simply consistent with my highly vocal opposition to Obamacare. Again, not so. I would say the same thing if a Democrat-controlled Congress moved a bill forward to a Republican president’s desk.

It is the principle of the thing.

If Congress does not act in this manner, the Legislative branch cedes its authority to the Executive and abrogates the “separation of powers” already weakened by the Supreme Court’s decision in King v. Burwell.

The Republicans’ constant battle cry on Obamacare is “Repeal and Replace.” They were quite right on the “Repeal” half but continue to be dead wrong on the “Replace.” The American people keep asking, “replace … with what?” No one gives us an answer, certainly nothing that will work.

Dr. Ben Carson, talks of adding more complexity to an already incomprehensible, bureaucratically bloated system. Other Republican candidates talk about tax changes or other modifications in financing. No one stands up and says, “THIS is what’s really wrong with healthcare and therefore, THIS is what we must fix.”

Republicans behave just like their Democrat adversaries. There is no bipartisanship and thus, no real leadership or effective governing. Both sides fail to discuss with the American people the root cause of sickness in our healthcare system.

The root cause is cancer; cancer of the federal bureaucracy. Expecting Washington to fix healthcare is waiting for cancer to cure cancer. Proper treatment is to cut the bureaucracy out of the body of healthcare. A plan called Direct-Pay USA does precisely that: it restores control to where it should be, in patients’ hands, and costs half – yes I wrote half – of what we are currently spending.

Both better and cheaper are possible in healthcare but not if both the Republicans and the Democrats continue to have their way.

Dr. Deane Waldman MD MBA is author of just released “The Cancer in the American Healthcare System;” Host of www.wecanfixhealthcare.info; Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Pathology and Decision Science; and Adjunct Scholar (Healthcare) for the Rio Grande Foundation, a public policy think tank. Dr. Deane sits on the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange as Consumer Advocate. Opinions expressed here are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Board.

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