For the moment, Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) appear to have failed. But whatever the outcome of this partisan knife fight, it's not too soon for Democrats to get to work on health care. This issue will be a centerpiece of the 2020 (and probably 2018) election fight.
If—as seems likely—Republicans' health-care effort ultimately collapses, Democrats can fill the vacuum they will have left behind. Democrats will need to mend aspects of the ACA and our broader health-care system that badly need repair. If Republicans somehow succeed, Democrats will have an even greater need to address the human and systemic disaster Republicans bequeath. Whatever the ultimate fate of Republicans' Better Care Reconciliation Act, Democrats require some care and reconciliation within their own ranks, given the spirit of recrimination that proved so costly to them last year.
