That is, if I understand your position correctly, the only acceptable "alternative": to end the mess completely. The longer it stays in place the messier it's likely to be. My guy took his thirty pieces of silver and voted Boehner into office predicated on that very thing. Empty promises.
“Oh, the latest party line (I’ve been in touch with my “representative”) is the the GOP has made no fewer than 50 *attempts* to end 0bamacare, but the people touting it aren’t being very specific about just exactly what they were. Like you, I’m a little skeptical (like the ocean is a little wet).”
From 2011 to 2014, when the GOP controlled the House and the Dems under Reid controlled the Senate, the GOP House did send 50 Obamacare repeal bills to the Senate. They knew Reid would either table them or the Dems would vote the repeal bills down. Exactly what happened. This allowed the GOP to say they “tried”.
What is interesting, now that they have control of the House and Senate, they have the ability to pass a repeal bill and actually force Obama to accept or reject it. They’ve had 6 months to do so and haven’t lifted a finger. This tells me they aren’t serious about repeal or they are afraid to have any direct confrontation with Obama.
Consider the big victory they gave Obama with passage of TPP. What did they get for it? Nothing. In the old days the opposition party controlling Congress would have struck a deal for something meaningful if they supported a major initiative of the POTUS. For example, we’ll vote for TPP if you agree to the following changes in O’care. Don’t agree, no deal. Unfortunately Boehner and McConnell are not hardball negotiators in the mold of Tip O’Neill, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. As a result, when they help Obama they get nothing in return.
As to Obamacare, passage of repeal alone is politically not viable. The Republicans need to have an alternative plan that makes sense. The issue of preexisting conditions needs to be addressed for example. Many on this forum will tell you people with preexisting conditions are schemers who want a free ride — find out they have cancer and then want to buy health insurance.
Actually there are millions who paid into the system for years under the old system and found themselves without insurance. For example, the 55 year old who gets let go by his/her employer and develops cancer while on COBRA. He/she is too sick to go back to work. After 18 months the former employer COBRA ends and the former employee cannot buy health insurance in the private market due to the preexisting condition. Should someone who had insurance, and paid into the system for decades, be denied insurance? Another example is people in the private insurance market who paid for years, and were treated for a condition. They move to another state. Since the old (and current) health insurance market is a state by state market and not a national market, the person is rejected by insurance companies in the new state due to the preexisting conditions. Like the first example, this is someone who paid into the system for decade, not someone without insurance trying to buy insurance because a serious and expensive health care issue has developed.
Transparency in pricing is another reform needed for the health care industry. Transparent pricing would result in more aggressive competition and lower cost.
Finally, the old system did not allow for competition nationally, which would bring scale to the marketplace and lower costs. Opening up the old system to national competition would have been a significant reform and should be part of any Obamacare repeal.
In summary, if the Republicans were serious about eliminating Obamacare they would write, pass, and put a bill on Obama’s desk repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a serious market based insurance system that allowed competitive market forces to work and protected consumers who paid into the insurance system for years and contracted an expensive health issue.
The absence of action by the GOP is revealing.