ACA

Republicans want to repeal the ACA, but they don't have a good alternative. I'll suggest a way to get past this.

Earlier I suggested this be done over (at least) a six month period. If Republicans want to do it faster, so they can focus on tax reform (and infrastructure) legislation, then for speed the ACA fix has to be done primarily by Democrats with little input from the Republicans.

Democrats can write the legislation to achieve a couple of significant improvements and to fix any smaller problems. This should be handed to the Republicans for a once-over and then back to the Democrats for final changes. It's a package deal: no amendments, all or nothing.

Then the legislation should be passed by voice votes in House and Senate. This could be done any day and time. Nobody has to have their vote recorded to take credit or blame. It will simply be done and done. If Trump should veto this bill, then it would simply be overridden by Congress in the same way the bill is originally passed (quietly). Each party can decide for themselves how to handle the after-effects.

Structural changes the Dem legislation should include:

    interstate healthcare insurance sales, regulated by the federal government to prevent a "race to the bottom";
    requirement that each state have expanded Medicaid to offer subsidies to their citizens;
    requirement that each state have an exchange, with some funding or other assistance from the federal government for poorer states;
    a reduction or elimination of the mandate tax/penalty

If other significant changes are required they will be run past the Republicans before going into the legislation. For speed there should only be one chance to consider whether a suggested change is included (and then when the legislation is ready, one once-over of ths entire package before voting). This might enable passage within a month. It depends upon the difficulty of writing the legislation.

Democrats realize the Republicans are in the driver's seat, but we want to improve the ACA. Perhaps this method is a win-win.