One-sided health care plans won’t benefit Iowans

For more than seven years Republicans have claimed the Affordable Care Act was developed and passed by Democrats alone under a shroud of secrecy.

Such charges ignore the monthslong process of more than a dozen public hearings and 30 bipartisan meetings then-Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus held, as well as the months he spent trying to hash out bipartisan compromise with Iowa's own Chuck Grassley, who served as the committee's top Republican.

The erroneous claims minimize months of bill markup, when GOP amendments were considered and more than 150 accepted. They cast aside the time frame of more than a year when elected officials and the public had opportunity to debate the ACA.

Nonetheless this false narrative of partisan secrecy became a Republican rallying cry, the foundation of promises to repeal the law instead of modifying or improving it. The political theater is impressive, if you willingly overlook the practical results of obstinance and neglect.

Now congressional Republicans are attempting to follow through on their pledge - using the same fictional political playbook they've spent years deriding.

Even in these unprecedented times of partisan fury, this is remarkable hypocrisy.

As then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in 2009, a bill that impacts one-sixth of the national economy deserves open and thoughtful discussion.

The Iowa delegation should withhold support for the bill until it can be fully and publicly vetted.

After failure of the first repeal effort in the U.S. House, Republicans wrote its second replacement bill in secret and passed it before it could be reviewed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. When the review arrived three weeks later, the agency said 23 million more Americans would be without health coverage under the GOP plan.

Republican Senators balked at the unpopular House plan, immediately saying they would scrap it in favor of a new approach.

Even after initially celebrating passage of the House bill, President Donald Trump later admitted the effort was too harsh and 'mean,” given the expected higher insurance rates for older and sicker Americans and limits on coverage for the nation's poorest residents.

Unfortunately, the Senate's new approach arrived this week with even less transparency, and far more questions than answers. A select group of Republicans did exactly what they claimed Democrats did: The GOP health care proposal was a quickly crafted closed-door affair.

When reports surfaced that the GOP working group was comprised only of men, Sen. Joni Ernst took issue, saying that all Senate Republicans were welcome to attend the group's meetings and offer input.

Otherwise Iowan Ernst, like all Republicans, released no specifics for congressional or public consumption. There have been no public hearings, was no draft legislation before Thursday's unveiling, and no informational meetings. The first informational meeting, open only to GOP Senators, took place the same day the bill was released to the public.

The group fulfilled the Senate mandate of a CBO review, but did so privately. The CBO score isn't expected until early this week.

The bill, made public after about a month of closed-door meetings, will come directly to the Senate floor, bypassing the committee process that includes input from industry experts. Lawmakers not involved in the backroom meetings will be expected to cast their vote days after being handed the bill.

Iowans concerned about Medicaid caps or a shrinking state insurance exchange will have no time to absorb the bill's impact, much less make their voices heard to lawmakers before the scheduled vote.

At least four Republican Senators quickly voiced their dismay with the process and portions of the bill. Since no Senate Democrats were invited to help craft the bill, none are expected to support it.

Keeping the bill a secret and bypassing long-standing safeguards may still prove to be politically expedient, but is lousy policymaking. A health care system expected to truly benefit Iowans and other Americans cannot be born in secrecy and shame.

The complicated nature of health care demands public input; it is literally a life-or-death issue for some Iowans.

Regardless of how messy or uncomfortable it may be, there must be a full public vetting - and the Iowa delegation should be leading the way.

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