OPINION | Let ObamaCare implode — obstructionist Democrats own that failure

President Trump was right when he tweeted: “3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!” It is time for Republicans to allow the Democratic Party’s signature law, ObamaCare, to work as the big-government Democrats intended for it to work when they drafted up that government-centered healthcare law for all Americans.

President Trump, and most Republicans in Congress, have gone above and beyond the call of duty to repeal President Obama’s failed healthcare law, yet the Democrats and a handful of Republicans have banded together to save the status quo — a status quo that is slowly destroying American healthcare.

{mosads}Back on February 28th of this year, President Trump came to Congress and declared, “Tonight, I am also calling on this Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and, at the same time, provide better healthcare.”  Congress failed to deliver on a plan to make healthcare great again with more choice and lower costs.

The one complaint I have with Republicans in Congress right now is that they are way too slow in implementing the Trump agenda. President Trump promptly signed several signature items into law that will streamline the regulatory burden President Obama left on American businesses. Yet, Congress moved like snails on repealing and replacing ObamaCare — a crucial, tactical mistake.  Hopefully, Congress learns a lesson from this failed effort and responds by moving quickly to pass legislation reforming the tax code and rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure.  

McCain urges lawmakers to “trust each other” on improving healthcare https://t.co/3T3Y97TBZh pic.twitter.com/KuaRA59LdC

— The Hill (@thehill) July 28, 2017

Republicans proposed many different ideas on how to replace ObamaCare. President Trump declared that, “The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we are going do.” Thanks to Democrats and a handful of Republicans, cost will continue to skyrocket. But make no mistake: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and President Barack Obama own our healthcare system and are to blame for substandard healthcare and increased cost.  

There are only two ways forward on repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

First is for Congress to not give up. Continue to push ideas that will fully repeal every word of ObamaCare and expose the Democratic Party for obstructing the road to a better healthcare system. Make them vote once, twice and hundreds of times to block reforms. If the Democrats want to filibuster and obstruct, make them conduct talking filibusters to they can explain to America why the current broken system is all they deserve.

Bipartisan group of senators start working on healthcare after ObamaCare repeal defeat https://t.co/2fY3tQNfHJ pic.twitter.com/btwR5rOa6G

— The Hill (@thehill) July 29, 2017

The second strategy is to let ObamaCare fail and force a better deal going forward.  When the inevitable collapse of the Democrat’s healthcare law happens — because the whole idea of a government centered system is a flawed idea — Congress needs to let it fail. Moderates and liberals in Congress are going to want to toss cash at insurance companies to bail out the bad decisions Democrats made to establish this bankrupt system, but conservatives need to stand strong. The art of a better deal is leverage, and Republicans will certainly have much more of it in the very near future.

Yet again, President Donald J. Trump has been proven right and the only people standing between a better healthcare system and a collapsed system the are liberal obstructionist leaders, Pelosi and Schumer, who are leading their party into a political abyss. Once the system implodes, their political legacies will reflect that.  

Corey R. Lewandowski served as campaign manager for President Donald J. Trump.

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