The U.S. House of Representatives failed to repeal and “replace” the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which would have fulfilled a seven-year quest by conservative politicians to roll back President Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.
Before the scheduled House vote last week (which never took place), voices on all sides chimed in to express their support or opposition, with one very notable exception: Governor Rauner.
Two weeks ago, when the legislation was first introduced, the governor said, “My first blush read is Illinois won’t do very well under the changes they’re recommending.” He added, “I want to make sure that people in Illinois are not left in the lurch.” Since then, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that beginning next year, 14 million people nationwide would lose insurance under the GOP-backed plan — a number that would balloon to 24 million over the next decade. The bill would have dire effects in Illinois, too. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 1,000,000 Illinoisans have gained health insurance under Obamacare, including 671,000 through a federally-funded expansion of Medicaid.
These gains would be undone under the Republican proposal, which is why several other Republican governors, whose states also expanded Medicaid, recently penned a letter opposing the legislation. With so much at stake for Illinois — particularly the poor, disabled and families that receive health care via Medicaid — how can Gov. Rauner remain silent?
If the governor isn’t willing to stick his neck out for the people of Illinois, instead of talking about repealing and replacing Obamacare, perhaps we should be talking about repealing and replacing him.
Tim Granholm
Oak Park