Health reform: The road ahead

Commentary by Newt Gingrich on Fox News.com (Mar. 28):

Friday's decision to pull the House Republican health reform bill was not the end of health reform. In fact, it may have been the best step toward actually achieving real health care reform -- if congressional leaders learn from the experience.

The Republican congressional leadership erred because they decided to repeal and replace ObamaCare within the traditions of the pre-Trump legislative swamp.

By default, they accepted the fake scores of the Congressional Budget Office. By allowing the scores to exist, they let Democrats and the media quote "the non-partisan CBO" to their disadvantage.

Leadership applied the absurd limitations of Senate reconciliation rules to a House bill, even though it was guaranteed to frustrate their conservative members.

They established a deadline for failure – which we know is detrimental to large legislative achievements. Ronald Reagan took eight months to pass a tax cut, which was giving away money. We took 18 months to pass welfare reform, which had the support of 92 percent of Americans. Obama took eight months to pass ObamaCare – even while he promised it would cure all our health care ills.

……………….

History has taught us: America doesn’t like political health care. There is a deep imperative for Congress to think through bipartisan health care reform.

The House and Senate GOP leadership can learn a lot of lessons from this failed experiment – if they are willing to.

THE ROAD AHEAD

There are a set of principles for successful conservative reforms. President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher used them in the 1980s. We followed them in creating the "Contract with America" in 1994, reforming welfare in 1996 and passing the balanced budget in 1997.

As Thatcher said: "First you win the argument, then you win the vote." The best short book on her fight to reform Britain, Claire Berlinski's "There is no Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters," makes clear the moral, human arguments Thatcher used to dismantle socialism in Britain.

1. Communicate with the American people and convince them this will provide a much better future than the current system.
2. The key is to focus on health and health care, not on financing.
3. Health is the largest sector of the American economy and the most complex.
4. As the health reform plan evolves, it has to be described in very detailed question-and-answer systems online, so people can understand how it affects them, health professionals can understand how they will be impacted, the news media can understand it, and the elected officials can explain and defend it.
5. It should be possible to outline the entire new system in a series of very clear charts, so everyone can understand the goals and the directions before being asked to support the transition process. People both have to understand the long-term values-based goals and the policy changes, which will be bridges to achieve these goals.
6. Properly developed, a dynamic, innovative, science-based American health system will be the largest job creator, the largest sector of high-paying jobs, and the biggest earner of foreign exchange in the country.
7. Following a disciplined road map like this is hard work and requires more patience and more discipline than the inside Washington game. 

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A good idea not just for the healthcare bill but for any major piece of legislation. The House didn’t get a chance to read the bill and to debate it. It was more-or-less accept it or not accept it-- not to improve on it. Hannity is right Congress needs to get together and to debate and hash out a better bill. The bill should contain all the elements that President Trump campaigned on: Buying health insurance across state lines, and health saving accounts among others.