DALLAS - Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) resident scholar Merrill Matthews, Ph.D. released the following statement regarding the recent compromise Republican health care bill.
Matthews states:
"The compromise Republican health care bill is significantly better than the original version. It's not a full repeal of Obamacare—which should remain the goal—because Republicans are using the reconciliation process, which limits their options. But under the compromise version, which has gained House Freedom Caucus support, states that choose to could once again create functioning health insurance markets.
The compromise provisions mean that those states that scorn free markets and free individuals—e.g., New Jersey, New York, Vermont, California, etc.—could continue with their health insurance death spiral. Indeed, New Jersey, New York and Vermont destroyed their individual health insurance markets when they adopted Obamacare-like regulations in the early 1990s, so there's no reason to think they would try to fix them now.
But states eager to revive functioning health insurance markets, so that individuals who want to buy an affordable policy in the individual market, would have a path to do so. This is a federalism approach to health insurance, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
To be clear, the Republican's American Health Care Act still leaves the health insurance market too regulated, but the compromise bill is much better than the original—and vastly better than Obamacare."