Donald Trump’s statement that his preferred replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would provide health “insurance for everybody” surprised those who have followed the contentious debate over the health-care law since its passage in 2010. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary, signaled agreement with the president when he said during his confirmation hearing that a Republican replacement for the ACA should cover more people.
In recent years, though, Republicans have emphasized that gains in insurance coverage should not be the sole barometer by which health-care reform is measured. Rather, they have said, the affordability of that coverage is the key to a better health-care system with fewer uninsured Americans. The ACA’s cardinal sin is its focus on access first, while doing little to address cost.
As a general matter, the conservative focus on lowering health-care costs first is exactly right. Yet Trump was also right to argue that the ACA’s replacement ought to have universal coverage as a goal. Democrats should not be allowed to claim this health-care moral high ground uncontested.
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