The Crisis Surrounding the Repeal and Replacement of Obamacare
The scenario surrounding the repeal and replacement of Obamacare has reached crisis proportions. The present administration is unable to garner enough support to fulfill its commitment to repeal the current health-care law. Indeed, a number of political issues are impeding the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). First, Republicans continue to struggle to come up with a plan to replace ACA, and second, Republicans lack the votes to repeal ACA. Indeed, these two problems have thwarted the efforts in place for the past years since the ACA law came into place that would ensure better health care for the majority of the American people and at a lower cost.
Political Problems Facing Repeal of the ACA
Since the enactment of ACA, various groups have continuously opposed the Democratic health-care reforms efforts. Clearly, most interest groups receive money from external donors that support the reform legislation with the promise that the white house will cut the cost of health care. One of the interest groups leading in the repeal and replace movements is the HCAN which received about $8 million from AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, in conjunction with other labor groups for the anti-reform efforts (Eggen). Many of the organizations coming up are made up of conservative American citizens who are stakeholders in the health care system and thus a repeal and reform process would mostly have a direct impact.
In lieu of repeal and replacement of Obamacare, the interest groups are opposed to the health care reforms either because some are financed by a charitable organization that has political affiliations or because of those businesses that have a financial interest in the health care reforms. It is imperative to note that those receiving donations from the pharmaceutical industry, for example, CMPI supports the legislation debate in exchange for a promise that the white house will limit cuts imposed on the pharmaceutical industry (Eggen).
The Group Strategy
One of the major players in the health reform debate HCAN, which receives funding from AFL-CIO, continues to demand fixes to the ACA (Pollack). One of the major strategies adopted by the HCAN is the grass-roots campaign, which aimed at moving the health reform at the center-stage within the Democratic Party. The Health Care for America Now (HCAN) remained pivotal in powering the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (Pollack). Indeed, the group with support from organizations such as AFL-CIO conducted tremendous campaigns that aimed at generating images of Americans fighting to make health care a right for all the citizens of the country. The actions portrayed by the HCAN remain iconic in the struggle for health justice in the United States of America. Evidently, coming up with a robust grassroots campaign is not easy; as such, HCAN partnered with the local players, and community-labor coalitions that committed to structuring progressive capacity and not merely winning over the ACA issue.
While the initial plan was to disband HCAN after the passage of the law, the top echelons of the group launched HCAN 2, whose mandate was to defend the law after the ACA law passage. The group strategy involved continuous fighting for the ACA legislation, supporting the Medicare concept from privatization, pushing for the expansion of Medicaid, and pushing for campaigns aimed at reminding Americans that all the opponents of ACA wanted to return America to the days when the insurance companies determined who to award care when sick. Clearly, with all the campaigns adopted by the HCAN and the organizations behind their financing such as AFL-CIO, the Republicans strategy to first repeal the ACA law followed by a transition period after which replacement will take place has continued to affect the House Support for the bill (Pollack). Of note, the transition period serves only to deny millions of deserving Americans with immediate health care needs and that will not be covered if Republicans succeed in the efforts. Therefore, to ensure that they succeed in the efforts, then they have to repeal and come up with an adequate replacement for ACA.
Strategy for President Trump
For a long time, labor movements in the United States of America have fought to make affordable health care a right for every citizen. With the passage of ACA, it acted as a source of benefit to the millions of Americans who could not afford the expensive health care system in the USA. The strategy that President Trump should adopt is that based on repeal with immediate replacement of the ACA. Coming up with an adequate ACA can translate to the continued provision of health care needs to those people covered under the ACA laws. Further, they should come up with a health care plan that is by far cost-effective in comparison to ACA, and which does not reduce coverage in Medicaid and Medicare (Goodnough). Though this strategy would minimize the logistics of the transition between repealing and replacement, the Republicans should ensure that they adopt other sensible reforms to make the strategy better.
Works Cited
Eggen, Dan. “How Interest Groups Behind Health-Care Legislation Are Financed Is Often Unclear”. Washingtonpost.com. N.p., 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.
Goodnough, Abby. “Interest Groups Push To Fill Margins Of Health Coverage”. Nytimes.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.
Pollack, Harold. “The Group That Got Health Reform Passed Is Declaring Victory And Going Home”. Washington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.
