Sizing Up Other Key Players: ‘Obamacare Republicans,’ An ‘Unhappy White House’ And, Of Course, Voters
Editorial pages feature different takes on how a range of people -- from moderate GOP lawmakers and arch conservatives like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) -- have been center stage in this ongoing health policy debate.
The Wall Street Journal:
The ObamaCare Republicans
Senate Republicans killed their own health-care bill on Monday evening, and some are quietly expressing relief: The nightmare of a hard decision is finally over, and now on to supposedly more crowd-pleasing items like tax reform. But this self-inflicted fiasco is one of the great political failures in recent U.S. history, and the damage will echo for years. (7/18)
The Washington Post:
Don’t Blame The Moderates For The Health-Care Debacle
With the announcement from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) that she would not vote for repeal (at least as defined by the 2015 reconciliation bill that would leave 32 million more Americans uninsured) with no replacement, the whole dreary episode of Republican hypocrisy on Obamacare can come to an end. (Jennifer Rubin, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
Raging Over The Health Bill’s Failure, Trump Will Soon Make An Even Crueler Move
Now that the GOP health bill has imploded in the Senate, it’s fitting, in a way, that President Trump is now demanding in a rage that Senate Republicans vote on straight repeal only. If that play fails, as many analysts seem to expect, it will neatly capture just how saturated in cruelty, dishonesty and bad faith the Republican approach — and, more recently, that of Trump — has been all along. (Greg Sargent, 7/18)
Boston Globe:
The Human Cost Of Trump’s Health Care Tantrum
Donald Trump’s tantrum on Tuesday, when he said his administration would let the law fail after a Senate replacement plan collapsed, marks an astonishing abdication of responsibility. If the president follows through on his implicit threat to intentionally sabotage the health care market, Trump will inflict a needless burden on millions of consumers. (7/18)
The New York Times:
Obamacare’s Future Now Depends On An Unhappy White House
The congressional effort to overhaul the health care system appears to be in shambles. But the current health care system lives on. And decisions the Trump administration makes about how to manage it could have big effects on who has coverage next year, and what it costs them. The Department of Health and Human Services is in charge of administering Obamacare, and so far the department’s staff has given many public indications that it does not enjoy such duties. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 7/18)
Chicago Tribune:
The Future Of Obamacare? Voters, Over To You.
The Senate Republican bill to repeal and replace the health law lies in a smoldering heap. Some GOP lawmakers back a loopy repeal-now, replace-later-maybe effort that as of Tuesday already looked to be political toast. You can't replace something with nothing, or the promise of something later that you've failed to deliver today. (7/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Is Rand Paul's Opposition To The GOP Health Bill Principled, Or Cynical?
The greatest trick any politician can pull off is to get his self-interest and his principles in perfect alignment. As Thomas More observed in Robert Bolt’s “A Man for All Seasons,” “If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly.” (Jonah Goldberg, 7/18)
USA Today:
Rand Paul: Time To Repeal Obamacare
There are those who insist Republicans must act as a team to repeal Obamacare. I agree — if the topic is repeal. Every Republican has run on repealing Obamacare for seven years, and all but one voted for clean repeal in 2015. Now we have a president who will sign it and is asking for us to send the same repeal bill to his desk, one that repeals with a two-year window to work with. We also have a majority leader who has said he will bring this vote to the Senate floor. (Sen. Rand Paul, 7/18)
The Wichita Eagle:
Sen. Jerry Moran’s Interesting 24 Hours
Jerry Moran began Tuesday as a hero to Kansas moderates, the Sunflower State Republican who took a stand against a second Senate health care bill by criticizing “the closed-door process.” He listened to his constituents, they figured, being one of the few senators to have a town-hall meeting during the July 4 recess. Which makes the rest of the Tuesday so oddly interesting. (7/18)
The New York Times:
John Kasich: The Way Forward On Health Care
Columbus — Washington’s approach to health care over the past decade is yet another example of our lawmakers’ increasing distance from the rest of America. First one party rams through a rigid, convoluted plan that drives up costs though unsustainable mechanisms that are now unraveling. Then the other party pursues fixes that go too far the other way — and again ignores ideas from the other side. (Gov. John Kasich, 7/18)
