Obamacare’s ‘guardrails’ are crucial issue as Congress debates shoring up the law

One of the few things that Republicans and Democrats broadly agree on is that states should have some flexibility to experiment with different ways to pay for and deliver health care.

But they disagree — strongly — on how much. In fact, Republicans don’t agree with one another on this, and that dissent helped sink efforts this summer to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. Bridging these divides will help determine the success of a bipartisan effort in the Senate this month to help shore up the individual health insurance market.

“I’ve always said not all the wisdom is going to be in Washington,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the ranking Democrat on the powerful Finance Committee. “Progressive and conservative folks are going to say ‘we can do better.’”