Seven years ago, almost to the week, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare was passed by the 111th Congress. Despite being based on ideas from the conservative Heritage Foundation, Republicans in Congress immediately despised bill and spent the subsequent seven years trying to repeal and replace it or kill even most of its power. Now, with Donald Trump in the White House, Republicans finally have control of the executive branch as well as the legislative branch. This should mean that the Republicans can finally get their replacement passed, right? Well, as Donald Trump would say, WRONG.
The Republicans were unable to shore up enough support for their own bill. The Affordable Health Care Act, now being called Trumpcare or Ryancare, currently does not have enough votes to pass in either house of Congress. Obviously the Democrats have pledged their opposition to law, but many Republicans have also pledged to vote against the bill's passage. The infamous Freedom Caucus, the extremely conservative wing of the party, refused to vote in favor of the bill because it did not go far enough in stripping away the ACA. The Freedom Caucus wants to see the total repeal of the protections of the ACA they campaigned on and refuses to pass anything else. On the other side, many moderate Republicans, now worried about facing constituents that will lose their health insurance under Trumpcare, have also not pledged their support for the bill.
With all of this division, it is no wonder that the bill didn't pass. Despite seven years of waiting and finally gaining full control, the GOP could not get its own bill passed. Donald "The Art of the Deal" Trump could not cut this deal, even after threatening Republican opponents with political payback. However, Trump decided instead to point out how no Democrats voted for the bill, but said he will welcome them to the table when the ACA collapses.
So, it looks like Obamacare is going to stay, for now. The fight to repeal the ACA is far from over. However, as more constituents stand up and demand that Congress protect their insurance, we may see more Republicans finally turn away from repealing the law they've hated and attempted to repeal for seven years. Grassroots efforts were one a major reason the ACA was saved.
Obviously, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not perfect. When passed, it was a watered down version of an already moderate bill, with the watering down took out important aspects like the public option. Although it has helped many Americans get insurance, it is clear the ACA needs to be improved upon, but where we will go from here is unclear. Whether we get no change at all, a watered down version of the already watered down ACA, a full conservative repeal of the ACA, a return to the original version of the ACA, or even single-payer healthcare, the healthcare fight will continue for a long time.
