McDonald letter: Health care plan

In light of the Republican Party’s inability to bring a bill to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives regarding amendments to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), may I offer a novel idea. How about Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi actually demonstrate real leadership to bring a majority of each of their parties together to negotiate revisions to the ACA that bring stability to our medical insurance system and help Americans plan for and manage their health care costs. Both parties would have to move from doctrinaire theology to the hard job of governance, with neither party jamming their political faith down the throat of the other (which the Democrats were guilty of when they first enacted the ACA, and which the House Republicans and Donald Trump just tried to do themselves). As I said, a novel idea, but we will not build a stable system unless and until a significant portion of both parties’ members come together to forge a lasting compromise. Barring that, it will be a continuous battle of each party undoing the other’s enactments as the congressional majority passes back and forth between parties. Meanwhile, Americans suffer. I’m tired of it.

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 3:38 PM with the headline "McDonald letter: Health care plan."