Obamacare Repeal is Compassionate

Let’s face it: President Trump had a very bad political week last week, but one tweet that rose through the heap of manure was this one: “Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!” The president is spot on! Who says we can’t continue the fight to repeal Obamacare? Tradition?

To move forward again, I would encourage the president to stop bashing Republicans publicly. If he’s going to lead the charge to repeal Obamacare, he’ll have to learn and apply the old cliché “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.” The buck stops with him, whether John McCain and Susan Collins are thorns in his side or not. He’s not going to persuade politicians on the Hill via Twitter. He can still play hardball behind closed doors, but he’s also going to have to build relationships with those in Washington who want to see his agenda succeed.

One of the reasons former President Obama resorted to executive orders so frequently is because he never took the time to build relationships with either party. Frankly, it was easier for him to use a pen and phone rather than work through the arduous legislation process. Fortunately for Republicans, executive orders can be erased by an incoming president with the stroke of a pen; legislation like Obamacare cannot.

As Republicans, we’ve grown so accustomed to defending our policies rather than explaining why they’re beneficial to the American people, we turn and run at the first sign of defeat. However, when it comes to our health care, failure is not an option! This is a fight the GOP can’t back away from! Not just because of the political ramifications it’ll have on the party in the 2018 midterm elections if they don’t keep their promise to “repeal” Obamacare (“replace” was magically added in 2015), but because people in the individual market are really suffering under Obamacare, and they believed that Republicans would bring them relief. For some, Obamacare is a death sentence because their premiums and deductibles are simply too high!

Galatians 5:14 (NIV) reads: “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Don’t you wish politicians in Washington, on both sides of the aisle, would love us enough to grant us the health care they’re privileged to have? I can’t believe I have to ask this since they work for us! How does an employee receive better benefits than his boss? The fact is, as voters we have to demand that Republicans keep up the fight to repeal Obamacare. They don’t get to say when the fight is over. We do!

They’ve allowed the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring to become their boogeyman to the nation’s detriment. The CBO has continuously said repealing Obamacare would cause around 22 million Americans to lose their health*care insurance. But, as the Heritage Foundation has reported, these numbers are very misleading. Why?

Republicans would like to eradicate the individual mandate, which is the part of Obamacare that forces individuals to buy health insurance or be penalized with a fine. If they were to repeal the individual mandate, an estimated 16 million of the 22 million that have purchased health care through the Obamacare exchanges would choose to voluntarily drop their coverage. Therefore, 73 percent of Obamacare recipients would walk away from the disaster that is Obamacare if given the chance.

There are solutions to reducing health-care costs that can benefit all Americans. Among them are Health Savings Accounts through your employer where you’re allowed to have nontaxable money taking from your paycheck to help pay for medical costs as they arrive.

Zero Growth Medicaid Block Grants is another option presented by the Cato Institute to help the poor an indigent amongst us. They recommend that each state enjoy full flexibility to administer its own Medicaid program. Each state would receive more federal funding in the initial years after Obamacare is repealed, but annual funding levels will remain fixed – i.e., a zero-growth block grant. Structurally, this would allow each state to help the truly needy while incentivizing those states to eliminate waste and fraud abuse.

Thirdly, I’d like to see insurance companies authorized to sell health-care plans across state lines. Doing so would empower the consumer over the big insurance lobbyists in Washington simply by forcing them to compete for your business. As customers, we’d receive better health-care plans at affordable costs.

Just because Republicans have grown weary in their fight to repeal Obamacare doesn’t mean we have to. The only power politicians have in America is the power we give them. Let’s be sure they don’t have the power to determine our health.

Originally published at WND.com

Carl Jackson is a radio talk show host – his web site is www.carljacksonshow.com. Media wishing to interview Carl Jackson, please contact media@wnd.com.

The views expressed in opinion articles are solely those of the author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Black Community News.