All citizens of western North Carolina owe a big “thank you” to Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, and the Freedom Caucus bloc of representatives in the U.S. Congress. This group, led by Mr. Meadows, is responsible for the fact that those of us who are not wealthy, who may have pre-existing medical conditions, who are elderly, or who are not covered by a group health care plan provided by an employer, can still — at least for now — purchase reasonably affordable health care insurance.  

The withdrawal of Speaker Paul Ryan’s American Health Care Act (Ryancare, or Trumpcare depending on your preference) means that the Affordable Care Act will continue as the law of the land “for the foreseeable future,” according to Mr. Ryan. President Trump has made it clear that he will not be bringing up a healthcare initiative again in the near future. Apparently he didn’t really have a plan in mind after all, in spite of his campaign promises. 

The Freedom Caucus put a stake in the ground (and a stake through the heart of the proposed legislation) over the fact that certain provisions of the ACA would survive — it was not a sufficiently complete repeal for this group of radical right politicians.

And it appears quite obvious that the Republican Party, after seven years of grandstanding votes to repeal what they termed “Obamacare” and which became a rallying point for resistance to anything that had President Obama’s or Democratic support, had absolutely no alternative plan or strategy to address health care.

Although the American Health Care Act was eventually exposed as a relatively cold-hearted attempt to cut benefits, such as Medicaid, that largely help the poor and the elderly, in favor of huge tax breaks for corporations and the rich, it still wasn’t enough to satisfy Mark Meadows and the Freedom Caucus. Their insistence on even more severe cuts to benefits, up to or including complete repeal of the ACA, with no replacement at all, was the eventual undoing of the plan. Last minute deal-making to try to bring the Freedom Caucus on board only drove moderate Republicans away from supporting the bill.

Will Mark Meadows and the Freedom Caucus be among those willing to work in a bi-partisan way to achieve a good result for a broad cross section of Americans? It doesn’t seem likely based on what we’ve seen on healthcare and so many other issues. Do they believe that their constituents really want them to vote “no” on every bill that is not a big tax break for the wealthiest 1 percent, or a big cut to any spending programs that aren’t for defense or a border wall?

If that turns out to be the case, remember it when you decide which citizens to send to Washington when election time comes around in 2018.

Dan Chasins

Cashiers