Turns out replacing Obamacare isn’t that easy

Turns out governing is much more difficult than campaigning. President Trump is finding that out, barely 70 days into his presidency. It is easy to say “lock her up” and get the base excited. It is easy to say that it would be easy to repeal and replace Obamacare. Turns out actually doing it is much more difficult. Even with a Republican controlled White House, Legislature and Senate, Republicans could not come up with a plan. This is despite the fact that while Obama was in office, every Republican criticized Obamacare, and voted more than 60 times to try to repeal it. But when it comes time to actually doing the work, coming up with a plan better than Obamacare, was out of reach. So much for the art of the deal. So much for it being easy. Turns out the hastily-crafted plan was less about ensuring Americans than it was providing a big tax cut for the rich. Turns out there are problems with Obamacare that need fixing. It is a better system than we had before, ensuring more Americans than ever, but it isn’t perfect. Republicans had a chance to fix it, and failed. President Trump says that after the defeat, he is ready to move on, to address other issues. But that does nothing to improve our system of health care. As we are seeing, it is easy to throw stones, but a lot more difficult to actually get things done.