By Rick Manning
As originally published at http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/325146-freedom-caucus-chair-stands-tall-against-disastrous-ryancare
Remember the good old days when Republicans were against the nationalization of 1/6 of the nation’s economy through ObamaCare?
Fortunately, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and many others in the GOP conference do, as they seek to hold Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to the rhetorical standard that so many in House leadership raised for the past six years.
As the “RyanCare” battle rages in House of Representatives, many are questioning why so many conservatives find the Speaker’s approach noxious.
Fortunately, the Texas Public Policy Forum has listed 10 reasons why the Speaker’s healthcare bill falls short — not just when it comes to repealing ObamaCare, but its failure to refocus our nation’s healthcare system toward patient care and away from worrying about insurance coverage.
The first two reasons are quoted below:
1. Doesn’t Improve Care. Obama[C]are expanded the federal bureaucracy at the expense of quality care. Tax dollars were taken from providers and used to pay administrators, consultants, lobbyists, insurers, and regulators. The House bill does nothing to change that dynamic.
2. Raises Insurance Premiums. The Congressional Budget Office believes that the bill will raise insurance premiums by 15-20 percent on average in the next two years, with even higher spikes in some areas. Americans care most about lowering health costs and making coverage affordable — yet the bill falls short on that count, retaining all but one of Obama[C]are’s costly mandated benefits and insurance regulations.
On Washington’s political scoresheet, though, the real story is the willingness of Meadows, the Freedom Caucus chairman, to stand up and oppose what can only be described as a bad, bad bill.
On Tuesday, Meadows was reportedly called out for his opposition to the bill by President Trump in a meeting of House Republicans on Capitol Hill. The president recognized that Meadows worked hard for his election in North Carolina, and (some say jokingly) warned him that he’d be coming after him on this vote.
Joking or not, the message was clear that in spite of all the hard work Meadows and his wife Debbie did to elect the president in the critical Tar Heel State, he is likely to face the president’s political wrath if he continues to lead opposition to the disastrous Ryan plan.
A plan that the Congressional Budget Office reports will result in continuing health insurance rate increases as it fails to deal with the underlying problems with national healthcare.
It takes a person of unusual character and integrity to stand against a president whom you just recently helped elect, but Meadows understands that restoring our healthcare system to a free-market orientation is too important to play politics over.
Meadows is exhibiting the kind of courage that Americans expect but so rarely receive from their elective representatives.
Even at this late date, Congress can still repeal ObamaCare and respect the people, the Constitution and the states by defeating this version of RyanCare on the floor, and moving ahead with legislation that at the least mirrors the 2015 repeal language that passed Congress, and replace ObamaCare with a system that returns power to the states, restores healthcare choices to the people and allows healthcare markets to determine products being offered to meet the needs of consumers.
Should, as this author hopes, RyanCare go down this week, it does not signal the end of the process, but a new beginning where consensus can be created around solutions that the GOP has long espoused. That is the way legislation is supposed to work.
For all the doomsayers, they need to wake up from their swampy haze and remember their promises when they campaigned against ObamaCare.
A pathway to a good healthcare bill is available, but members of House leadership need to reread their campaign brochures and take it.
They also need to listen to Rep. Meadows, who’s showing us what it means to be a free-market, limited-government Republican.
Rick Manning is president of Americans for Limited Government and a longtime contributor to The Hill.
