Some in Washington have been concerned about the lack of a vigorous public policy debate among the GOP presidential candidates. Conservatives were supposed to have learned their lesson after the policy-light 2012 campaign. 2016 was to be a policy feast.
So where’s the beef?
Two answers. First, it’s August; it’s too early to worry about the relative absence of policy in the campaign. If things haven’t improved a few weeks from now, then that’s cause for concern. But even the rush-hour traffic in Washington checks out in August. Second, two words: Donald Trump.
Those two answers reinforce each other. But both are growing less acceptable by the day.
And so it is heartening that Governor Walker has today released a healthcare plan. Governor Walker is to be commended for injecting some serious public policy ideas into the GOP primary contest. The other candidates should release their own healthcare plans – particularly the ones who might actually win the nomination – and a great debate about the shape of conservative healthcare policy should follow. (Senator Rubio is characteristically ahead of the game, with an alternative sketched months ago that he publicized again yesterday in an op-ed for Politico.)
Governor Walker’s plan properly repeals Obamacare. But it also properly replaces Obamacare with a conservative healthcare program which has among its goals ensuring “affordable and accessible health insurance for everyone” and among its features providing tax credits for individuals in certain circumstances to purchase coverage – one of the right goals and one of the right tools for a conservative replacement. (I haven’t read the details yet; I’m sure there will be other things I like and things I don’t.)
Some will criticize Governor Walker for offering a conservative alternative to Obamacare. Repeal the ACA and go no farther, they will say. But of this be confident: Obamacare will not be repealed without being replaced. Supporting repeal without offering a replacement is supporting the Obamacare status quo.
So enough with celebrity and the heat of the August summer. Let the health policy debate begin.