'An Old Idea That Doesn't Work'

The American people have waited more than 2,200 days – and endured 63 House GOP votes to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act – to see the Republican fantasy plan to replace the ACA.  And even though Republicans have admitted that they're never going to actually produce a replacement bill, Speaker Ryan finally teased out the big idea that the GOP spent six years thinking up: "An Old Idea That Doesn't Work," according to The Huffington Post.

Paul Ryan's Big Plan To Replace Obamacare Is An Old Idea That Doesn't Work

It took him six years to come up with a policy invented in the 1970s.

If you were hoping Republicans had fresh new solutions for health care reform up their sleeves, you might find the recent hints from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) a bit disappointing.

After six years of the GOP failing to come up with a comprehensive alternative to the Affordable Care Act, what Ryan outlined during an appearance at Georgetown University on Wednesday was essentially another stab at a decades-old idea that's never really worked — an idea that would involve allowing health insurance companies to resume charging sick people higher rates than healthy people.

The cornerstone of Ryan's approach is so-called high-risk pools, a form of health insurance designed for people with the most serious health conditions and highest costs, who were mostly locked out of the regular private market before the Affordable Care Act required insurers to accept all applicants.

If the concept sounds familiar, it's because high-risk pools have existed since 1976, and are a go-to policy proposal for Republicans who don't want to be accused of not caring about people with pre-existing conditions…The problem is, high-risk pools — which existed in 35 states before the Affordable Care Act made them virtually obsolete — always failed to achieve their goal of providing a true insurer of last resort to those who needed it…

…This was part of Ryan's argument to the college-aged audience that letting insurance companies once again discriminate against the sick, and moving the most ailing into a separate program, would be good for them. Young people would pay lower health insurance premiums if older, sicker people were in a separate program, he said.

But that doesn't account for the cost to taxpayers of whatever government subsidies would be provided to people in the high-risk pools…

Earlier in his appearance at Georgetown, Ryan repeated his promise that Republicans would finally tell Americans how they would do health care reform differently…Ryan didn't offer a lot of fine detail in his four-minute reply to the student's question. Republicans will supposedly unveil a health care plan this summer, and maybe it will address the shortcomings apparent in what Ryan did say this week. For now, though, his plan sounds like it won't be as good for people with pre-existing conditions as what they already have under Obamacare.

Old ideas that don't work: That's all we've seen from Speaker Ryan during his "Year of Ideas."

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, a milestone 20 million previously uninsured Americans now have quality, affordable health insurance.  Here's a new idea for Speaker Ryan and House Republicans: wake up to the truth of the ACA's success, and join with Democrats to build on the monumental progress we've made toward a healthier, stronger America.