Can GOP reform Obamacare?

As the Republican-led Congress begins its 2015  "repeal the Affordable Care Act"  season,  this seems like a good time to loop back to Philip Klein's examination of GOP alternatives for health care.

Tuesday's vote on H.R. 596 is part of an ongoing political drama that has already featured more than 50 house votes to repeal the ACA.  But in "Overcoming Obamacare,"  conservative health writer Klein delves into three long-term conservative strategies to reshape a broken system.

Roy

Avik Roy of the Manhattan Institute,  a former adviser to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign,  is a leading voice in what Klein dubs the reform camp.  Roy's plan preserves some elements of the ACA,  including the insurance exchange and protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

"Roy's philosophical starting point on the health care issue differs from that of many conservatives in that he has argued in favor of universal coverage, calling it  'a morally worthy goal.'  His plan is also based on the assumption that repeal is unlikely,"  Klein writes.

Roy's reform plan outlines changes that can be made piece by piece,  such as eliminating many of the ACA taxes,  allowing insurers to charge higher rates for older customers and extending private-insurance exchanges to Medicaid and Medicare.  He touts it as a politically feasible strategy that would make insurance cheaper and more appealing for young people while costing taxpayers less than the ACA.

Klein predicts that it's more likely to alienate members of both parties,  with Democrats resisting the changes while Republicans  "would be expected to embrace the goal of universal coverage" and  "cede major ground to Obamacare on taxes,  spending and regulations."

Coming soon:  A look at the "replace"  and  "restart"  strategies.

Author: GOP needs strategy beyond anti-Obamacare

I know a lot of Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act,  but I've had a hard time figuring out what,  if anything,  they want to take its place.  That's unfortunate,  given the power they hold in North Carolina and in Congress.

Klein

Philip Klein,  commentary editor for the conservative Washington Examiner,  agrees.  "If opponents of the law want to win the war over the future of the nation's medical system,  they will have to unite around an alternative approach,"  he writes in  "Overcoming Obamacare:  Three Approaches to Reversing the Government Takeover of Health Care."

Klein argues that there's not really a dearth of GOP alternatives.  Instead,  he says,  there are too many  --  and all of them tend to get drowned out in general discourse by the  "repeal"  rhetoric.

Health reform has never been a favorite GOP issue,  except for opposing expansion of government's role,  Klein writes.  You can fire up a conservative crowd by talking about tax cuts,  gun rights,  immigration or the war on terror,  he says,  but don't expect to get cheers for talking about tax treatment of health insurance.

"When Republicans utter phrases such as  'repeal and replace,'  what conservatives often hear is  'Obamacare Lite.'  As a result,  the prevailing question on the right often becomes,  'Why can't we just repeal the law and be done with the health care issue?'  The answer is that even if simple repeal were politically obtainable,  Americans would still be left with a broken health care system."

Klein groups the alternatives into three camps:  Reform,  replace and restart.  I'll loop back to these options.  For now, I'll settle for noting that Klein,  like many of other political perspectives,  believes more and better information about the cost of health care is essential.  "Give consumers the motivation they need to save money and the information they need to do so,  and suppliers of goods and services will respond by providing better value,"  he writes.  "For the most part,  neither feature exists in the American health care system."