Repeal and replace?

• Author: Riczo, Steve
• Position: Medicine & Health - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

"Look at the broad spectrum of the many, many small and medium changes that are part of [ObamaCare] that are addressing gaps, that are addressing needs, and consider them carefully before making decisions about how to move forward with them. "

AFTER a contentious presidential election, many Americans were left wondering where we go from here as a nation on a range of issues. One that has been a source of deep division is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). Our nation's health care system, with its unsustainably high costs and medical errors resulting in an estimated 250,000 American deaths each year, very well may present a great opportunity to come together to improve a major sector of the U.S. economy that almost all Americans say is important to them regardless of party affiliation.

There actually is more common ground on health care than might be apparent at first glance. For example, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is major Medicare legislation that became law in 2015 with Pres. Barack Obama praising the bipartisan nature of the legislation.

In December 2015, the Bipartisan Policy Center released a report, by former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R.-Ga.), who agreed on several important health care principles, including expanding coverage for the uninsured; reducing costs; and improving the quality of delivery.

In a September 2015 interview on "60 Minutes," then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump publicly identified the imperative to provide health care: "Everybody's got to be covered.... I am going to take care of everybody.... Everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now. "

Vice Pres.-elect Mike Pence, while serving as governor of Indiana, expanded Medicaid under PPACA to provide care for more of the state's low-income citizens--one part of an effort that helped 22,000,000 Americans obtain health insurance under PPACA. It seems that many agree with the idea of having the broadest possible health care coverage for the citizenry. For years leading up to the passage of PPACA, Gallup polls revealed that approximately 60% of citizens maintained that "it is the responsibility of the Federal government to make sure that all Americans have health care coverage."

A September 2015 Harris poll found that 84% of Americans believe that having a system that ensures that sick people get the care they...