This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The American Health Care Act (Trump-Ryan Care) would have left 24 million people without insurance, raised deductibles for millions more and the savings would have been a tax-cut gift to millionaires. And that, folks, was the Republican "improvement" on the ACA. It failed because it was morally bankrupt legislation, supported by partisan nincompoops.

Republicans spent seven years preaching "repeal and replace" and then totally whiffed it when the time came to act. They are just not good at policy.

Donald Trump complained that this failure is on Democrats because they couldn't get even one Democratic vote, but the fact is they never tried to work with Democrats. That's why they planned to use the reconciliation process, to avoid having to deal with Democrats. Had they worked with Democrats, they'd have had a better bill.

The GOP has spent seven years cynically attacking and exaggerating the problems with the ACA and promising "better coverage for more people." Here's a novel idea: What if the GOP stops whining and lying and actually does something. For instance, work with Democrats to fix the things that need fixing in the ACA so that all Americans have affordable health insurance. Do your job.

Susan Christensen

Salt Lake City