Working together to build a better system

It seems like we’ve heard the same talking points from conservatives for the past year and a half. They say that the Affordable Care Act will increase the deficit, even though the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said it would lower the deficit. They said the bill was a “government takeover of health care,” which appropriately won Politifact’s Lie of the Year in 2010.

The truth of the matter is that instead of coming up with ideas of their own, these opponents of the Affordable Care Act have taken to the airwaves simply to bash our new law. They want to repeal dozens of protections that Americans are taking advantage of every single day.

But at least one person is deviating from his party’s plan. Bill Frist, who served as Majority Leader for the Republican Party from 2003-2007, came out swinging in favor of the Affordable Care Act on Tuesday.

At the Bipartisan Policy Center, Former Majority Leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle joined forces to encourage bipartisanship across the states to solve our health care problems.

According to Politico, the Bipartisan Policy Center announced “that it will form a group of former governors from both parties with hopes of coming up with creative and effective ways to implement the health care reform law.”

Former Speaker Frist was quoted saying,

…it is the law of the land and it is the platform, the fundamental platform, upon which all future efforts to make that system better, for that patient, for that family, will be based. And that is a fact.

This could be a good sign of what’s to come.

Americans need actual solutions to fix a system that has left millions without insurance and millions more vulnerable if they become sick or injured. They don’t need empty rhetoric from politicians who are just pandering to their base.

As a recent AP poll has shown, an overwhelming majorityof Americans are not in favor of repealing the law in its entirety.

Those who have made headlines echoing stale—and untrue—talking points should take a cue from the Former Speaker. It’s time to work together to come up with solutions, not repeal the progress we’ve already gained.