National Center for Public Policy Research Proposes 5-Point Plan for Achieving Repeal of ObamaCare and Replacing It with a Free-Market Alternative

“First You Win the Argument, Then You Win the Vote”

Washington, D.C. – Saying Congress needs to be more aggressive about repealing ObamaCare, a Washington D.C. conservative think-tank is proposing a 5-Point Plan to help Members of Congress engage with each other and with the American people to develop an alternative to ObamaCare and get it enacted into law.

“Margaret Thatcher once said, ‘First you win the argument, then you win the vote.’ Republicans need a strategy for winning the argument,” says Dr. David Hogberg, senior fellow and health care policy analyst at the National Center for Public Policy Research.

To that end, the National Center for Public Policy Research proposes a five-point action plan to help Republicans repeal ObamaCare and replace it with a better system:

1. Sponsor Regular Congressional Hearings. Congress should hold weekly hearings on key health care issues, including mounting problems with ObamaCare and alternatives for more free-market reforms. Hearings on the latter will enable lawmakers and the public to debate free-market alternatives and help give ObamaCare’s critics an opportunity to coalesce around one plan. Hearings on the former will help Members of Congress learn from the ObamaCare experience.

2. Hold Regional Town Hall Meetings. Republicans should hold town hall meetings across the nation, soliciting advice from Americans on what works and hat doesn’t work about our current health care system and learn from the public what it believes would help our health care system perform better. These should be high profile meetings structured to allow for maximum public input.

3. Appoint Congressional Working Groups. Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should appoint health care working groups consisting of Members of Congress/Senators they trust who are committed to ObamaCare’s repeal. Each member would be a “go to” expert on a specific aspect of health care reform and act as a sounding board for the leadership. These working groups also would coordinate and participate in such activities as the Town Hall meetings and would regularly engage with the news media.

4. Put Health Care Bills on the President’s Desk. Nothing gets a policy conversation started faster in Washington than sending a bill to the President’s desk. Bills in this instance can include (1) bills that repeal parts of ObamaCare, such as the individual mandate or the so-called ‘Cadillac tax,’ or (2) bills that make legal and permanent some of President Obama’s unconstitutional unilateral actions, like exempting businesses between 50-99 employees from ObamaCare’s employer mandate.

5. Be Transparent. ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber said, “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage… call it the stupidity of the American voter… but basically that was really, really critical in getting [ObamaCare] to pass.” Americans should not have to wait for reform to pass to find out what’s in it.

“Transparency is the enemy of bad legislation. The hearings, town hall meetings, working groups and public debates of this 5-Point Plan will help insure that the process of evaluating, repealing and replacing ObamaCare is done in a transparent manner, which in turn will help insure that the next health care policy approved by Congress is one the American people are happy to live with,” said Amy Ridenour, chairman of the National Center for Public Policy Research.

“Republicans in Congress need to educate the American people about the benefits of free-market health care reform,” says Dr. Hogberg. “We need to repeal ObamaCare and replace it, and 2017 represents our next best opportunity. But it will be a heavy lift getting there.”

Margaret Thatcher offered up another wise saying the GOP must never forget: “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

“Some Republican elected officials may be tired of fighting ObamaCare, but health care reform is literally a life-or-death matter, and one Americans must continue to work on until we get it right,” added Ridenour.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations, and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 96,000 active recent contributors. Sign up for free issue alerts here.

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The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.