--- title: John Kasich: The GOP Must Fix Obamacare Properly description: 'Rather than shoving a bad law through Congress on party-line votes, Republicans can, and must, do better' canonical: https://time.com/4639704/john-kasich-obamacare/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-19T20:04:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:43.428Z article:section: Ideas og:title: John Kasich: The GOP Must Properly Fix Obamacare og:description: 'Rather than shoving a bad law through Congress, Republicans can, and must, do better' og:url: https://time.com/4639704/john-kasich-obamacare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Kasich: The GOP Must Properly Fix Obamacare twitter:description: 'Rather than shoving a bad law through Congress, Republicans can, and must, do better' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # John Kasich: The GOP Must Properly Fix Obamacare > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: 10 Days That Define the Obama Presidency: The Affordable Care Act [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Days That Define the Obama Presidency: The Affordable Care Act](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/S8hGNLNB.m3u8) (2:35)  _Published 2017-01-12. As President Obama's two terms in office come to a close, TIME is taking a look back at the most pivotal moments of his presidency._ by [Gov. John R. Kasich](https://time.com/author/gov-john-r-kasich/) ## Gov. John R. Kasich Jan 19, 2017 8:04 PM UTC by [Gov. John R. Kasich](https://time.com/author/gov-john-r-kasich/) ## Gov. John R. Kasich Jan 19, 2017 8:04 PM UTC With control of both the White House and Congress for the first time in more than a decade, Republicans now have the means to bring real and long-needed improvements to national health care policies that have been the source of significant difficulties and debate for far too long. The substance of those changes — and the way in which they are pursued and enacted — can go a long way toward helping the country move forward together. I have always opposed [Obamacare](http://time.com/tag/obamacare/) and consistently called for it to be replaced with more conservative, market-driven reforms that actually control health care costs. [At the invitation of Republican leaders ](http://time.com/money/4630346/president-obama-taxes-increase-obamacare/)in Congress, I recently submitted a number of recommendations for consideration as they work to undo the harm caused by Obamacare’s expensive and burdensome federal takeover of our health care system. Congressional Republicans have already begun taking [steps to repeal Obamacare](http://time.com/money/4633181/obamacare-repeal-what-now/), and I urge them to avoid committing the same sins that the Democrats did when they created the law. Rather than shoving a bad law through Congress on party-line votes, Republicans can, and must, do better. F[or the millions of Americans](http://time.com/4639119/obamacare-popularity-rises-poll/) who have gained health coverage since 2010, it’s safe to assume that their idea of fixing Obamacare does not involve ripping away their own health care coverage without a responsible alternative in place. There are simple solutions to improving our country’s health care policy. I support efforts to replace the individual mandate and guaranteed issue with policies like continuous coverage protections, relaxing the individual market age rating requirements, and dialing back essential health benefit requirements. These are just a few reforms I believe should be considered and hope Congress will pursue. When it comes to [Medicaid](http://time.com/4566900/medicaid-donald-trump-healthcare/), each governor faces unique challenges. When I took office in 2011, our state faced an $8 billion budget shortfall and our Medicaid program was growing at an unsustainable rate. Since then, we’ve balanced our budget and replaced our fee-for-service Medicaid program with private sector managed care plans. In doing so, we significantly reduced the annual growth of our Medicaid program and the bureaucracy needed to manage it. Stronger management of the system made it possible for Ohio to become one of 31 states to extend Medicaid coverage to 700,000 previously uninsured, low-income Ohioans, many of whom are veterans, mentally ill or struggling with addiction. According to a recent assessment of Ohioans who gained coverage through Medicaid expansion, a majority now find it easier to find or keep a job, manage their health to avoid costly trips to the hospital down the road, and even find it easier to put food on the table. Our state has demonstrated we have the ability to manage our program in fiscally responsible ways, and we strongly urge Congress to grant us the flexibility to retain coverage for adults impacted by expansion. These Ohioans, their families and the communities they live in are counting on Congress to get this right. Finally, our country will never truly fix the rising cost of health care unless we stop paying for volume rather than value. In Ohio, we’re advancing reforms that actually pay doctors for providing better care, not just more care. These are the real solutions that will reset competition within the health care market, control costs and improve health outcomes. Like Ohio, many other states are embracing payment reform and this work should be encouraged as Congress contemplates what to retain from the Affordable Care Act. As members of Congress work quickly to repeal and replace Obamacare, they must always put Americans’ best interests first. Most certainly that means finding ways to correct the law’s negative impacts, promoting more competition within our state insurance markets by limiting burdensome regulations and providing much needed relief to small business owners and individuals struggling to pay for care. It’s now time to move forward with care, but determination. Congress should not hastily slap together a repeal plan without a proper replacement. That’s a cure that could be worse than the disease. Obamacare not only hurt the economy, it also divided the nation. Let’s take this opportunity to heal both. ## Transcript Today after almost a century of try, today after over a year of debate, today after all the votes have been tallied health insurance perform become law in the United States of America. Where the central Promises of Obama's 2008 campaign was to, in a way, complete the American social safety net, specifically for American's who were working, were not necessarily poor, but who could not afford health insurance and therefore didn't have regular medical care. This is something that most other Western nations Provide their citizens with, what the US hasn't historically. And he did this with a massive bill that did that and many other things. Since in the 1960s when medicare and medicate past which basically guaranteed healthcare for the poor and for the elderly, it has been a priority of democratic leaders going back decades To try and extend that to working people. And so when Obama came on the scene, he was really promising to complete this generation long democratic project. He was able to do it because the win in 2008 had been so grand. It had been such a big win. So for a time, we have a filibuster proof majority In the Senate. He had large majorities in the house. Most americans didn't really understand all the parts of Obamacare. It was a very complicated bill. But they had strong feelings. And those feelings tended to follow their political leanings. They were conservative Republican. They were concerned. It looked like government expansion overreach. They were liberal and fans of the president They embraced it. [ UNKNOWN ] For years, the American people have been calling on Washington, to build a bridge away from Obamacare. The story of republican opposition to Obamacare, isn't about Obamacare. It's about the way Republicans decided to oppose President Barack Obama from the very beginning. They lost the ability in some way to shape the legislation to make it more palatable. But they decided that political opposition made permanent campaign was more beneficial that [ UNKNOWN ]. And the biggest strangers, the most visible ones are the ones that are almost certain to stay but even president- elect Donald Trump wants to keep around are we a very popular visitations around children and the young girls staying at their parents house [ UNKNOWN ]. And they'd be getting rid of pre- existing conditions. That was a tremendous change and really just, a dramatic rethinking of a way insurance has been carried out in this country. 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