The Washington Examiner has revealed that congressional Republicans are still searching for ways to revive Obamacare repeal and replace, in effect bringing it back from the dead sooner rather than later. Meetings are happening behind the scenes of the various factions, beyond the merciless purview of the media, to try to find common ground and move a bill, any bill, that will advance the ball on reforming healthcare reform.
When and in what manner a renewed effort will take is open to question. If the Republicans want to pass something under reconciliation, that window is rapidly closing and will be gone by May.
On the other hand, the GOP could just go for broke, introduce a complete Repeal and Replace bill, and dare the Democrats to filibuster. This strategy might play itself out next fall, when premiums on the Obamacare exchanges will continue to skyrocket and the entire system has proceeded further down the death spiral. In that scenario, or so the thinking goes, more Democrats will be motivated to break ranks rather than face the wrath of the voters in 2018. Obamacare has caused untold misery and death among Americans, but it has also been a mass killer of Democrats’ political careers. If the Republicans play things right 2018 could be a repeat of 2010 and 2014 when health care reform brought the GOP victory after victory.
In any case, congressional Republicans have to be seen to be actively trying to put Obamacare on the ash heap of history. Many of them were elected on the very promise to do so. While Democrats will fight to the last ditch to try to preserve the Affordable Care Act or, better, use its failure to try to ram through single payer, government run health care, Republicans cannot let up either.
They must pass repeal and replace at some point.
The battle over healthcare is a war over the future of the United States. Will the Democrats succeed in seizing total control of health care, leading to mediocrity and misery? Or will the Republicans liberate the practice of medicine and return control of it to patients and doctors? It is indeed a Twilight Struggle between two different ways of looking at the world.
