No reason to wait on ‘Phase II’ of ObamaCare repeal

Republican congressional leaders and White House officials have pitched the repeal of ObamaCare as a multi-stage process to be carried out in phases. While that construction sounds like a sequence of events, there is no substantive reason that those phases can’t be enacted simultaneously.

With the House of Representatives’ passage of the American Health Care Act and the Senate now working on its version of healthcare legislation, the Trump administration should get busy right now on “Phase II” of the ObamaCare repeal plan. 

{mosads}Why the urgency? Well, millions of Americans are being punished with higher costs and less access to quality healthcare as ObamaCare crumbles. And in state after state, double-digit premium increases and fleeing insurers are costing Americans thousands of dollars and leaving them with few or no choices when it comes to healthcare.

Republicans have taken steps to begin repealing this failing law, but more must be done.

While the Senate ponders its next move — which should include repealing as much of ObamaCare as possible under budget reconciliation, freezing Medicaid expansion and moving funding and program design to the states, and allowing states to protect those with pre-existing conditions by creating safety nets for the most vulnerable — the Department of Health and Human Services, whose own study showed that premiums have doubled for individual health insurance plans since 2013, should not stand around waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Waiting on Congress to complete legislative action on the first phase of ObamaCare repeal is an easy justification for inaction, as HHS Secretary Tom Price — who served six full terms in the House — knows all too well.

Changes that Price could move ahead on now include:

• Relaxing ObamaCare’s choice-stifling coverage mandates, which drive up premiums and deprive patients of the ability to choose the kind of coverage they need. 

• Offering states more flexibility to opt out of other costly ObamaCare regulations.

• Undoing regulations that limit flexible gap coverage to three months. This would create a wider array of affordable options for consumers.

• Easing arcane coverage rules on insurance plans that a recent study said drove up the cost of the least-expensive plans by an average of 8 percent.

We are confident the administration and Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. While there are always other pressing matters, HHS ought to be able to press ahead with reforms while continuing to monitor the legislative situation. In any event, these changes can be made independent of any congressional action, and if some are later rendered moot by a full repeal of ObamaCare, that’s still a worthwhile endeavor. 

While Congress works its problems out, the administration can act now and, not incidentally, do what the president and others in the administration promised they would do: provide the American people with access to the affordable and quality care they deserve.

Nascimento is vice president of policy at Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.

The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.