“Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory” is not only a cliché; it seems to have been the Republican political strategy for the past few elections. Even more disturbingly, it seems like their strategy when dealing with the most epic governmental failures of Obamacare. By now, one doesn’t have to explain how bad the Obamacare rollout has been. However, the human cost is still unknown, and everyone sees the train wreck coming. Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu has proposed a bill that lets people keep their current health plans, and today Republican Rep. Fred Upton—yes, the same brilliant mind that gave us the incandescent light bulb ban—is presenting his “Keep Your Health Plan Act” to the House. Speaker John Boehner has described this plan as part of the overall GOP strategy to fight Obamacare. However, neither the Upton plan nor the Landrieu plan will actually fix the problem. Individual insurance is a heavily regulated, 50-state market, not a national market, and it is simply too late to immediately replace the five million canceled policies. No matter how intrusive the government response, the short-term damage is done. If Republicans jump with both feet into trying to fix the unfixable, they’ll suddenly become co-owners of the individual market collapse. The unfolding bureaucratic nightmare will not only muddy the political waters. It will also cause immense confusion among insurers, with ripple effects across the entire market. And that can and will be blamed on the Republicans who are trying to fashion a “fix.” Please go to the American Spectator to read the rest of my thoughts about this very important topic.
