‘Concepts of a Plan’

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, back at the dawn of the Trump era in February 2016, as Donald Trump was surging toward the Republican nomination, Marco Rubio, of all people, scored a few debating points against Trump.

The two were arguing about the way forward on health-care policy in the aftermath of the implementation of Obamacare. “What is your plan?” Rubio kept demanding of Trump.

Trump kept insisting that he had a plan, and, of course, that it was the best plan, and that his plan involved “getting rid of the lines around the states,” which was Trump’s way of saying that he wanted to open up the insurance market to interstate commerce, whereby a resident of, say, Vermont, could buy a health-insurance plan in, say, Georgia’s market, as long as it complied with the laws and regulations of the State of Georgia.

Trump’s idea wasn’t a bad one as far as it went. He was right that opening up the insurance market would increase competition to the public’s advantage, and the idea had many proponents in wonkish Republican circles, but it was clear as Rubio teased and prodded Trump that his “lines around the states” talking point was about as far as Trump could go into the details of health-care policy. Trump was against Obamacare. He was for “getting rid of the lines around the states.” After that . . . ehh . . . Trump really didn’t have much of a plan.

“There’s nothing to add,” Trump sheepishly claimed, after CNN’s Dana Bash invited him to fill in some detail for the American people.

You can watch the three-minute exchange below.

That clip was pretty embarrassing for Trump, but it obviously didn’t change the trajectory of the race. Trump would go on to squash Rubio and his other rivals and then win the presidency.

I bring this up because of the amazing moment about two-thirds of the way through Tuesday night’s debate, in which Obamacare came up yet again.

Moderator Linsey Davis asked Trump: “This is now your third time running for president. You have long vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. You have failed to accomplish that. You now say you’re going to keep Obamacare ‘unless we can do something much better.’ Last month you said, ‘We’re working on it.’ So tonight, nine years after you first started running, do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is?”

Trump began a long response by calling Obamacare “lousy health care,” complained that Senate Democrats wouldn’t vote for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act during his presidency, and then made the point that, since he couldn’t get Obamacare repealed, “I had a choice to make, ‘Do I save it and make it as good as it can be or let it rot?’ And I saved it.”

Okay, all fair enough. Trump didn’t have the votes to repeal and replace Obamacare in his first term, so he did his best to reform the program within the context of the law as it existed.

Then Trump added, “What we will do is we’re looking at different plans. If we can come up with a plan that’s going to cost our people, our population less money and be better health-care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it. But until then I’d run it as good as it can be run.”

Davis followed up and asked, “So, just a yes or no — you still do not have a plan?”

Trump responded (emphasis added): “I have concepts of a plan. I’m not president right now. But if we come up with something, I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive. And there are concepts and options we have to do that. And you’ll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.”

You can watch this two-minute exchange below.

You hear often from Trump supporters that they’re going to vote for him (again) because they prefer his policies to the alternative. And I think that’s a perfectly respectable position to take — if, that is, we know what Trump’s preferred policies are.

Can anyone, however, tell me what Trump’s vision is for reforming health care in the United States? What is Trump’s from-scratch, ideal reform plan? Alternatively, what, specifically, would Trump do to run Obamacare better than Democrats run it?

I ask these questions rhetorically because I’m not sure that even Trump himself could tell me. And I think I’m justified in my skepticism because he says that “if” he comes up with a plan, he’ll let us know. No need to worry, Trump assures us, because “they’re looking at different plans,” i.e., he does not yet have one.

This is no small thing. The question of health-care reform was arguably the single biggest issue that divided the Republican and Democratic parties between 2008 and 2017, a period of almost a decade, which overlapped with Trump’s first campaign and his election to the presidency. That single question dominated American political life. Millions of words were written on the subject. Thousands of talking-head debates were had on the topic.

Is it too much to ask for the three-time Republican nominee and former president to be able to deliver 90 seconds of talking points on his basic vision for reforming health care in America? Is it too much to ask for specifics about how he would govern? Is it too much to ask him to be able to explain, ya know, his plan?

I’m sorry, but after eight years, “getting rid of the lines around the states” and  “concepts of a plan” doesn’t cut it. It’s an embarrassment.