Why Republicans Hate Healthcare Reform

Health care reform isn’t going to be perfect, a fact that former President Clinton acknowledged last week when he spoke to Democratic lawmakers about the critical importance of passing reform this year. Not everyone will be covered in either House or Senate plans, Clinton said, and no one will really know how much health reform will cost until the bills for reform come due.

But an imperfect plan would be a dramatic improvement over the status quo where healthcare costs rise unabated, the national debt balloons and individuals who dare come down with a serious illness go bankrupt. Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that one reform plan, presented by Senate majority leader Harry Reid, would actually save money over time by lowering healthcare costs and raising the bill for high-end health insurance.

If the current health system is clearly unsustainable from both economic and public health perspectives, and proposed reforms offer to at least begin fixing the system why, then, are Republican lawmakers universally opposed?

Republican attacks have been ideological, labeling reform a government power grab, a move towards socialism that will cripple the economy. But Republicans have offered no workable alternative cures for the healthcare crisis.

In fact, their arguments have ignored the suffering of the uninsured by failing to offer any workable alternatives to the proposed plans. They turn blind eye to the fact that if nothing is done healthcare costs will continue to go up, which would further damage the economy by siphoning away money that could otherwise be used to grow businesses and hire new employees. Consumer spending would drop as households send rising chunks of their income to health insurers even as their benefits shrink.

But healthcare reform is essential to the Democrats short-term political health. The Democrats have taken the risky step of betting their credibility on passing the healthcare reform they campaigned on. Their biggest vulnerability, therefore, is failure to succeed, a fact that the Republicans hope to use to torpedo the Democratic congress. If Democrats fail to deliver on their biggest promise, they stand to lose in the next election.

Thus, Republicans attack healthcare reform without providing real alternatives because alternatives aren’t what’s important. The attack is cynical and self serving. Make sure healthcare reform fails and the Republicans regain power. Dress the attack up in vague images of patriotism, anti-socialism, and it looks somehow credible. Leave the central issue, that of Americans’ health, out.

The Republicans might succeed in derailing healthcare reform. They will likely gain a lot of seats in Congress as a result of having helped no one but themselves. The average American will surely be no better off, and will likely be a good deal more sick.