[sphinx]

Why "bullstuff?" The status quo ante no longer exists. Obamacare blew it up. Many people may assume that repeal is easy because they're still ensconced in the world of employer-sponsored plans and they've not seen very much change in their own access. But there are tens of millions of people who are not so fortunate. In addition, the low cost plans that many people formerly utilized no longer exist. Many insurers have pulled out of various states. Millions of additional people have enrolled in Medicaid. Millions more are relying on Obamacare subsidies to pay their premiums. I wish this weren't the case. I wish Obamacare had never been passed. But these are now realities on the ground. Repeal and replace has to think its way through these issues.

It would also be foolish not to address the underlying flaws of the traditional U.S. insurance model at the same time, as we will almost certainly only get one bite at this apple. Third party payment is the root of many evils. We should shift the entire system towards individually owned and portable insurance plans with high risk pools, subsidized as necessary, for those in legitimate need of assistance.

There have been several Republican plans developed over the last five or six years to do these things. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. The challenge at the moment is to united the Republican House and Senate caucuses behind ONE of these plans, structured in such a way that it is eligible for consideration under reconciliation (since we don't have the votes to break a filibuster). This is not so simple as simply yahooing through a measure repealing Obamacare, period (even if we had the votes to do it, which we don't).

[Sopater]

I’m not assuming that it will be easy to deal with, but if we trim around the edges and treat it as some delicate plant that we have to be careful not to damage, it will only grow more and more entrenched.

The GOP wants to retain the power over the economy that Obamacare has usurped just as much as the Democrats wanted to, and I’m sure that they will spin any story that supports their inaction that they think the conservative base will be willing to swallow.

the underlying flaws of the traditional US insurance model were clearly rooted in government regulation of mandatory coverage and by placing boundaries on who could purchase insurance from where. Continuing keep government’s hands all over the health insurance industry will do nothing to loosen the grip that is choking the people to death.

I’m willing to wait and see what the GOP does, but I wholly expect that it will closely resemble the results of the Republican Contract with America, as well as promises to limit abortion.