Hastings Cent Rep. 2017 Nov;47(6):9-13. doi: 10.1002/hast.774. Epub 2017 Oct 27.
We have just completed an exhausting nine-month debate on the future of the Affordable Care Act. I see this debate as having ended-as of this writing-in a draw. After months of repeal efforts, Republicans in the House barely passed in early May, with a 217-to-213 margin, the American Health Care Act, which would have significantly amended the ACA. Republicans in the Senate spent the summer trying to arrive at amendments to the AHCA that could attract fifty of their fifty-two votes, but in the end, the clock ran out on their opportunity to enact an amendment without Democratic input. With this legislative failure, we appear to be in a stalemate. The Affordable Care Act remains in place as the law of the land, but the Trump administration seems committed to at best condemning the ACA to malign neglect and at worst actively undermining it at every opportunity. Given the political stalemate, the time is right to reassess the deeper issues at stake and ponder the prospects for a considered compromise on health reform.
我们刚刚完成了一场长达九个月的、关于《平价医疗法案》未来的激烈辩论。在撰写本文时，我认为这场辩论已经平局收场。经过数月的废除努力，众议院共和党人在 5 月初勉强以 217 票对 213 票通过了《美国医保法案》，该法案将对《平价医疗法案》进行重大修正。参议院共和党人花了整个夏天试图对《美国医保法案》进行修正，以吸引他们 52 票中的 50 票，但最终，他们没有民主党参与的机会来颁布修正案。随着这一立法失败，我们似乎陷入了僵局。《平价医疗法案》仍然是现行法律，但特朗普政府似乎最多只能放任《平价医疗法案》被恶意忽视，最坏的情况是，他们会在任何机会下积极破坏该法案。鉴于政治僵局，现在是重新评估更深层次问题并思考医疗改革认真妥协的前景的时候了。
