Democrats can either help solve healthcare challenges or stew in their partisanship

For America’s politicians there are two priorities: Getting reelected and ideological power. Everything else serves as a means to this end. So when it comes to health care or any other issue facing America’s citizens, it’s important to understand one’s place in the “political” food chain.

Last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a nonpartisan report on the Republican’s proposed replacement for ObamaCare, the American Health Care Act. The CBO findings suggests the legislation will lower the federal deficit by $337 billion over the next decade by replacing subsidies with tax credits, and by reducing Medicaid expansion and its tax increases. Overall, the GOP health care reform bill is estimated to reduce taxes by $883 billion while cutting spending by $1.2 trillion through 2026.

{mosads}The CBO report also suggests the bill will increase the number of uninsured by 14 million in 2018 compared to ObamaCare, if it were allowed to stand. This increase would result from “repealing the penalties associated with the individual mandate” under ObamaCare.

The report suggests some “would choose not to have insurance because they chose to be covered under insurance under current law to avoid paying the penalties, and some people would forgo insurance in response to higher premiums.”

It’s important to emphasize the CBO’s estimated 14 million increase in uninsured would result from a conscious decision by citizens to forgo insurance. Under the GOP plan, these individuals would still have the opportunity to purchase coverage should they want it.

Even with ObamaCare’s mandates and penalties, millions of Americans preferred to forgo coverage and spend their money on things they thought more important. According to the IRS, in 2015 some 12.7 million citizens claimed exemptions from the mandate and 6.5 million chose to pay the fine rather than purchase coverage.

JUST IN: Republicans don’t have enough votes to pass GOP healthcare bill https://t.co/AWDpfziq1U pic.twitter.com/t4qfmVJKlb

— The Hill (@thehill) March 22, 2017

So just how accurate is the CBO report? Despite the rhetoric from the media and politicians on both sides of the aisle, it’s really just an educated guess.

Four years ago, the CBO predicted ObamaCare enrollment would be 13 million in 2015, 22 million in 2016, and 24 million in 2017. The actual enrollment numbers were 11.7 million, 11.1 million, and 9.2 million respectively.

So much of liberalism is about wealth redistribution. Under President Obama and Democrats, some 20 different tax increases were put in place to fund ObamaCare. Make no mistake, these taxes were designed to live on well after Obama left office.

Examples include a 3.8 percent surtax on investment income ($123 billion); Medicare payroll tax ($86.8 billion); medical device manufacturers ($20 billion); health insurers tax ($60.1 billion); and innovator drug companies tax ($22.2 billion), to name a few. If ObamaCare were to continue, rising health care premiums and deductibles would call for increased subsidies, and necessitate even higher taxes to pay for them.

The reaction to the GOP healthcare plan and the CBO report has been predictable on both sides of the aisle. Several Republicans have expressed frustration with the process, calling the new plan “ObamaCare lite.” On the Democratic side, people like Sen. Bernie Sanders are shouting:

“In the year 2017, Republicans want to throw 24 million people off health insurance, raise premiums for older people, and at the same time provide $285 billion in tax breaks for the top 2 percent. I think that legislation is disgusting. It is immoral and it should not see the light of day.”

Sen. Sanders’ comments are typical rhetoric designed to “influence” the uninformed. As I quoted above from the CBO report, the estimate given for potential uninsured is a result of individuals electing to forgo coverage and not from a denial of coverage.

NEW: Trump woos right with calls for Senate to make changes to GOP ObamaCare bill https://t.co/pxQ3pv7yAh pic.twitter.com/5C35fd177H

— The Hill (@thehill) March 22, 2017

The greatest cost for health insurance isn’t attributed to the youth in America. The greatest cost occurs in the last six months of an individual’s life and in almost every case, these individuals are older Americans. If they are paying higher premiums, it’s because they are using the health care system more than anyone else.

As for the tax break Sen. Sanders referred to, rescinding a tax increase on individuals, which is what will occur when ObamaCare and its tax increases are repealed, is not a “tax break.” If your employer gives you a 10 percent pay cut and later rescinds it, you are not getting a 10 percent raise. You’re simply getting a reinstatement of the salary cut you were originally given.

Can improvements be made to the proposed American Health Care Act? Of course. But Democrats have steadfastly stood against the GOP plan. Their goal is not to turn a failed program (ObamaCare) into a program that will work for Americans. Their goal is to criticize and resist anything and everything the GOP proposes, all in an effort to regain ideological power. As a result, Republicans are faced with pushing a plan through the legislative process using “reconciliation,” which allows for a bill to be passed with a simple majority of 51 votes in the Senate.

If Republicans attempt to add non-budgetary improvements to the proposed legislation, a Democratic filibuster would occur and it would take 60 votes to end it. With only 52 Republicans in the Senate, any attempt to pass the bill other than by the reconciliation process would almost certainly kill the bill.

So ask yourselves, do Democrats want to involve themselves in a process that will make healthcare more accessible and affordable for Americans or do they want to stand united against anything Republicans offer? The answer is obvious. Ideological power is the goal and it comes before the best interests of Americans.

With insurance companies dropping out of the ObamaCare exchanges and individual premiums/deductibles skyrocketing, the Republican led Congress hopes competition among insurance companies (selling policies across state lines), less regulation, and enhanced HSAs — all of which the CBO did not and could not analyze — will lower costs and incentivize more people to enroll.

Given the direction ObamaCare has been heading the past few years, Democrats and Republicans should put the battle for ideological power on hold and do what they were elected to do: work together to improve the lives of the citizens they represent.

Keith Rosenkranz is a former U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter pilot and combat veteran of the 1991 Gulf War. He is the author of the book “Vipers In The Storm,” which chronicles his experiences during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. He has published articles in the NY Times, Seattle Times, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, and TheHill.com. In addition, he has done analysis for CNN, CNBC, Fox News, and made appearances on The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity.

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