OPINION | They told us to abandon ObamaCare — then came the resistance

As the GOP effort to rip up the Affordable Care Act veers towards collapse, it’s easy to conclude that its failure was preordained.

The truth is, there was nothing inevitable about the turbulence that might prevent repeal.

TrumpCare is on the rocks because of intense, sustained activism that changed the politics of healthcare. Last November, in one of his final campaign rallies, Trump repeated his promise to “immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare” once in office. Once he won, few insiders doubted that he’d succeed.

{mosads}After all, the House had voted to repeal the ACA dozens of times and the Senate had passed a model repeal bill just one year before, in a sort of legislative dress rehearsal for the GOP’s strategy under a Republican president. Now, the GOP-controlled House and Senate leaders were saying the same thing as Trump: They would set the wheels in motion on day one.

Some of the ACA’s allies in Washington were already resigned to defeat. I remember a senior Senate staffer telling me that there was a 100 percent certainty that the ACA would be repealed, and that activists’ energy was better spent focusing on other battles.

What happened next?

Democracy.

MoveOn’s first wave of protests against repeal took place last December 20. Even given MoveOn members’ role in fighting for the law in the first place, there was a stunning outpouring of energy to defend it: thousands of activists in the streets, spread across dozens of cities.

Then in the beginning of 2017, answering a call to arms from Bernie Sanders, a united caucus of Senate Democrats took up the mantle, holding a string of pro-ObamaCare demonstrations nationwide on Jan. 15 —many with thousands of participants each, often in bitter cold. And then came the Women’s March: an un-ignorable show of force from a citizenry that refused to sit down and shut up.

The fight was joined. In February, upwards of 100,000 people thronged town hall meetings and shouted their refusal to see health insurance taken away. Even as healthcare interest groups largely stayed on the sidelines, grassroots activists fought off the first House vote. Ryan and Trump regrouped and passed their bill through the House, only to be met by “die-in” protests staged by constituents outside of local House offices across the country. 

This is Sen Grassley’s office, ten seconds ago. A voice from inside: “Don’t kill me, kill the bill!” 5 pic.twitter.com/yzV5Kssxg4

— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) July 19, 2017

As the TrumpCare fight moved to the Senate, activists stepped up their intensity. Disability rights advocates organized sit-ins against Medicaid cuts, refusing to leave until they were dragged from their wheelchairs by police in conscience-jarring moments caught indelibly on camera.

Medically fragile kids — the self-dubbed “little lobbyists” — crisscrossed Capitol Hill with their families, clutching stuffed animals as their parents explained to Republican senators that the reintroduction of lifetime limits on health insurance could cost their kids their lives. Meanwhile, Senate phones rang off the hook, fax machines printed out message after message, and searing anti-repeal ads played out on the airwaves. Republican lawmakers effectively went into hiding, refusing to hold town halls or engage with the public. Even this didn’t deter the movement for healthcare: the public came to them.

In recent weeks, it seems like each day brings new announcements of division in the GOP caucus. It would be easy to think that these fractures represent fundamental, unbridgeable divides that always existed. The truth is different: the gulf separating the Republican factions has been pried open, protest by protest, by regular people fighting for their lives. Just ask the senators, like Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who told Vox.com’s Jeff Stein that activism had “made an impact” on his thinking about the bill.

To kill Trumpcare once and for all,
LET’S
GO
BIG.

Protests in DC and nationwide, Sat July 29—find one here and RT:https://t.co/RSZFszzKTp pic.twitter.com/P3a0Z0ZVqH

— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) July 20, 2017 

There’s a flip side to this success. If the pressure eases off, Republicans could regroup. McConnell and Trump made clear this week that, even if nobody could point to a path to success, they weren’t ready to accept the possibility of failure.

They’re going to keep trying — threatening political careers and buying off votes with political sweeteners for swing-state senators. The GOP bill could turn a corner — and even if it fails completely, Trump has proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts in his next budget.

Nonetheless, the progress is remarkable. Public pressure turned the GOP’s top priority from a near-certainty into into an uphill climb. There are millions of heroes in this fight, Americans who refused to give up hope and took action instead.

As the “little lobbyists” grow up, they’ll never know the names of most of the people who fought to keep them alive. But all of us in the United States who get sick or grow old will owe a debt of gratitude for all of those who stood up in this moment.

If we do prevail and prevent repeal from passing, don’t let anyone tell you that this victory was inevitable. We’re winning because we fought. As new fights loom, it’s a lesson to remember.

Ben Wikler is the Washington Director of MoveOn.org, where he helps ensure that the group’s millions of members and the progressive community’s voices and views are heard in the nation’s capital.

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