Agreement is reason to celebrate

Lost in the recent Republican “repeal and replace” effort with regard to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) were the three items that Republicans and Democrats actually agree upon. In other words, few in the House of Representatives wanted to repeal them.

Those three items were seemingly never up for debate and were never part of the repeal effort (unless you count the roughly 7 percent of Congress that comprises the House Freedom Caucus). The three items are: Staying on your parents’ health insurance until age 26; prevention of lifetime maximum expenditures for health care plans; and the elimination of pre-existing conditions (as a reason for insurance companies to not enroll you on the open market).

Certainly, these three items of agreement were not broadcast by the media — at least not by the media outlets that I consume. Shouldn’t we be celebrating the advancement of these three provisions and the implied agreement they represent? For people with chronic illness and families with college age children (and beyond), this would seem to be something to be thankful for — that both of our major political parties agree on something. My elders have told me that, once upon a time, Democrats and Republicans actually did agree on policy every so often.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Agreement is reason to celebrate."