Zeke Emanuel, Obamacare Architect, Visits Trump To Urge One-Term Presidency – OpEd

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Last Wednesday, the Trump transition team disclosed the remarkable news that Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, an architect of Obamacare, was Mr. Trump’s first official guest of the morning. The spokesman demurred with respect to the details of the conversation, but I can guess: Dr. Emanuel was urging Mr. Trump to remain in office only one term, in accordance with Dr. Emanuel’s principle that people should be cut off at age 75.

Dr. Emanuel proclaimed this doctrine in The Atlantic in October 2014. Mr. Trump will turn 75 in June 2021, only half a year after beginning his second term (if elected again). So, surely Dr. Emanuel was just asking Mr. Trump to do himself and everyone a favor by not wasting everyone’s time taking a second run at the presidency.

But seriously, it is not a bad idea for the president-elect to meet with Dr. Emanuel. As I have previously noted, Dr. Emanuel threw in the towel on Obamacare in September 2014. Most of those associated with the law have not been so forthright in admitting it did not achieve its goals.

What was especially interesting about Dr. Emanuel’s change of heart was his insistence that the federal government could not force change on the health system. Instead, he now encourages policies which allow states to innovate. That has long been a Republican principle.

Let’s hope Dr. Emanuel’s visit to President-elect Trump signals acts of contrition from Obamacare’s many other “architects.”

This article was published by The Beacon.

John R. Graham

John R. Graham is Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis. Formerly Vice President at the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), he previously directed health-policy research at the Pacific Research Institute and the Fraser Institute. In prior positions he served as Assistant Vice President at Kidder, Peabody Securities Company; Associate at Goldman Sachs and Company; Political and Military Analyst for the United Nations Operation in Somalia; Development Consultant for Covenant House Vancouver; and Captain in the Canadian Army. He received his Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in economics and commerce from the Royal Military College of Canada and his M.B.A. from the University of Cologne, Germany. He is also Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute as well as Adjunct Fellow for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

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