Where are the Democrats’ ACA fixes?

That’s what the Republican National Committee wants to know, putting the question in a new ad. This is one of the oldest rhetorical tricks in the book, and to be fair has been used by both sides on many issues. It’s the “Have you stopped beating your wife?” tactic. It works when one only hears the question but never the answer.

These days, many hearing the question won’t even look for the answer. They’ll just assume there are no Democratic or progressive ideas to fix the ACA.

But there are. I asked for them on Twitter this morning and here’s a taste of what I got, just as of noon today:

Yeah, you have to click through and read a bit. But if you want the answer, it’s there. There are lots of ideas to fix the ACA that are not what the GOP is proposing. Nevertheless, one good tactic for diverting attention from a troubled plan pushed through in a closed process is to ask where your opponent’s is. I don’t fault the RNC for trying it out.

@afrakt

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Austin Frakt

Austin Frakt, PhD, is co-Editor-in-Chief of The Incidental Economist and tweets at @afrakt. His day job is Director of the Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center at the Boston VA Healthcare System, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He is also a Professor with the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management at the Boston University’s School of Public Health, a Principal Research Scientist with the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Health Services Research.

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