U.S. Senator Mark Warner, buoyed by yet another bipartisan bill yesterday and a strong (albeit less than 50 percent) showing in today’s Quinnipiac Poll, has decided to take another radically central position on healthcare by offering legislation that will:
“Provide Virginia families with additional health coverage choices to best meet their financial and medical needs. The Warner legislation includes a new, lower-cost health coverage option for consumers, and sets up a process to allow coverage plans to be offered regionally and across state lines. A third Warner bill works to ease unnecessary and burdensome reporting requirements for employers.”
Hence, the game to “tweak” Obamacare vice “repeal and replace” begins.
“Before, during and after the debate over health care reform, I consistently said that The Affordable Care Act was not perfect, and that Congress would have to revisit the ACA to correct problems for consumers and employers as this new, improved system was implemented,” Sen. Warner said. “We have listened closely to Virginia consumers, small businesses, providers and insurers to identify and work through some of these challenges. We have designed some targeted, commonsense improvements to keep what works and improve what could work better, and we will continue to look for places to make additional improvements.”
Of course, while Warner said all these things, where were his votes? Lock-step in support of the administration.
All in all, today, Warner and other members of Congress are attempting to change the conversation to piecemeal “fixes” of Obamacare instead of starting with a clean slate.
The political calculus of this is obvious.
Some of the proposals being made do make sense and have been offered by Republicans (especially coverage plans to be offered across state lines). However, make no mistake, this is an effort to divert attention from the national pain of Obamacare where people are losing their insurance, are losing their doctors, are facing higher premiums, etc.
Democrats are focusing on some of the less controversial elements of the plan in order to hopefully claim, sooner rather than later, before Election Day, “Fixed it!”
But it’s going to take more than two-minute warning legislation to fix Obamacare, along with further delays by the administration in an effort to run out the clock.
“Creating chaos and uncertainty does not help families or individuals who have seen their plans canceled, who have lost access to their doctors and pediatricians, and who have seen their costs skyrocket,” said Majority Leader Eric Cantor yesterday in a press release. “There is no greater proof of ObamaCare’s failure than the President himself continually undermining his signature piece of legislation…We need a health care system that works for everyone, that helps the insured get better and more affordable care, and that helps the uninsured have better options that work. It’s time for Democrats to stop trying to hide their failures under the rug, and for them to start working with Republicans to solve these problems on behalf of the American people.”
However, that’s not just nay-saying on the part of the Majority Leader. Republicans have been offering healthcare fixes since 2009, which sit languishing in the Senate, un-addressed, in general, by Democrats like Warner.
“We are going to get behind an alternative path to better health care that lowers costs, that increases patient choice, that is patient-centered, that allows for access to the doctors you want to see at a lower cost. This is our aim. And yes, we will put forward our better way of health care,” said Cantor.
There’s no doubting that Senator Warner is more than eager to gloss over his support for Obamacare going into this election season. However, as one longstanding political observer wrote me, Republicans will hardly allow Warner to “inoculate himself from the Scarlet Letter of Obamacare.”
And Ed Gillespie, who would like to challenge Warner for U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee, does not disappoint in immediately living up to my friend’s prediction.
“Mark Warner voted for Obamacare after promising Virginians he wouldn’t vote for health care reform that takes away the coverage that we like. Now he thinks we should keep it and tweak it. I opposed Obamacare, warned of its negative impacts and would repeal and replace it. Virginians will have a clear choice in November.”
Update – “Instant classic” tweet from Matt Moran, spokesperson for Speaker William Howell of the House of Delegates:
Look at that, 4 years, 5 million cancelled plans, 22 new taxes and 1 serious political opponent later, @MarkWarner wants to fix Obamacare.
— Matthew Moran (@mmoran0226) March 27, 2014
