By Pamela Sweetwood

There should be a pathway to bipartisanship.  Both parties suffered greatly from the last election and should have received the message that the American public is unhappy.  It seems like that message wasn’t received entirely.

I am most disappointed by what is occurring with the Affordable Healthcare Act.  From the onset, it was referenced as Obamacare.  That was intended to vilify the program.  It ignored that Mitt Romney had a similar program that seemed to work well.   Now with the outcome of the election, it seems like repeal and replace is determined.  Many are having regrets as they like pieces of the program.  I’ve always been very much in favor of it.  It is humane, overdue, and desperately needed.

The Republicans continue to be fixated on repeal & replace.  If they were adult about it, they would say repair.  We know they don’t have an alternative and haven’t had one.  They could have been constructive and made modifications rather than vote 60+ times to repeal.  They are acting as spoiled children.

I finally heard this weekend the notion of repair.  Paul Ryan commented it wasn’t and wouldn’t be considered.  This partisianship seems to be escalating rather than subsiding.

My opinion is the Affordable Health Care Act is great but suffers from one fatal flaw – price control.  I’m curious about Trump’s idea of allowing insurance companies to cross state lines.  It seems insurance should be regulated nationally rather than by state.  That may be a possible remedy to increase competition and drive cost down.   Coupled with pharmaceutical reform, which would be risky for elected officials but popular with the public, we could have something that works better for all.

Pamela Sweetwood was an ISU student, like many, who never left town. She works in higher education and has a history with many community non-profits organizations.

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