Since the GOP will have control of all three branches of the federal government, all eyes turn to their efforts to repeal Obamacare, and there are signs that they’re starting to buckle on it.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich highlights the GOP’s hesitancy on this matter:
.@newtgingrich: “I don’t think Republicans want to have 23 million people out there worried that they’re going to lose their insurance.” pic.twitter.com/s6RHZpMPZv
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 10, 2017
On Wednesday, Gingrich told CNN that Republicans have to be careful of the Democrats’ spinning the issue as though the GOP is pulling out the rug from people on Obamacare.
“They have to have bridges to give people a sense of comfort that they’re not going to be abandoned,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich, a close ally to Trump, is not the only Republican sounding a cautionary note on repealing Obamacare. In fact, the GOP seems intent on only repealing the funding mechanisms of Obamacare and leaving most of the mandates and regulations in place.
It really wouldn’t be as difficult to repeal Obamacare as Gingrich and others suggest. As The Heritage Foundation explains, states can act as the bridge between Obamacare’s repeal and eventual replacement:
With the repeal of Obamacare imminent, states should act in their 2017 legislative sessions to have replacement market rules ready to take effect upon repeal. As they prepare to reclaim authority over the regulation of their health insurance markets, rather than simply returning to the pre-Obamacare status quo, states should develop a package of alternative insurance reforms. Most urgently, they should review their benefit mandates, rating rules, and other regulatory barriers to ensure that these regulations do not raise the cost of coverage, do not limit choice, do not drive down competition, and do not hamper innovation.
With regard to the Medicaid expansion, those states that expanded Medicaid will have to consider adjustments to accommodate elimination of the enhanced federal match rate. States could either continue the coverage for these able-bodied adults under the traditional match rate, with the possibility of receiving greater flexibility through the traditional waiver process, or consider a state-only alternative that would not be tethered to the statutory restrictions in the Medicaid program and would enable the states to define and design health care arrangements as they see fit.
You would think that Gingrich would be championing the notion of federalism as an effective way to transition from Obamacare to the GOP’s replacement of it. Then again, Gingrich supported the individual mandate in 2009 and expressed reluctance to repeal Obamacare in March 2015, showing that the former speaker’s willing to change his positions based on the political winds instead of sticking to principled, conservative positions.