Conservative Analysts: Repeal Healthcare And Replace It

By Rachel Christiansen

Conservative analysts on Tuesday voiced support for repealing healthcare reform, and suggested ways to replace several of the law’s key provisions.

National Center for Policy Analysis President John H. Goodman (NCPA) presented a list of ten specific changes to the Affordable Care Act that pointed out “structural flaws” within the law, and identified remedies to them.

Goodman proposed altering the current “perverse incentives for insurers,” which he argued would force middle and high income earners into unecessarily expensive coverage.

“But when they got it, they’re gonna act on it, and when they do, they’re gonna crowd out the elderly and the disabled, the most vulnerable part of society,” he said.

Goodman said that he considers a provision within the law starting in 2014 that requires individuals and businesses to purchase health insurance “impossible.” Such a mandate will burden customers, according to his organization, and won’t necessarily bring down the annual cost of insurance for many who might not experience matching increases in incomes.

Other panelists who also spoke today included former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Moffit, the American Enterprise Institute’s Thomas Miller and the Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon.

Meanwhile, Democrats, many of whom oppose repeal efforts, highlighted a new report put out by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) illustrating the adverse impacts of rolling back the new law. In a letter to fellow Members that accompanied the report, Waxman also questioned the intelligence of repealing the law without first holding congressional hearings to study the ramifications of taking such action.

“The failure to hold hearings denies members and the public to understand fully what is at stake,” wrote Waxman.