One of the more nefarious aspects of Obamacare is the idea of government controlling your health care decisions (i.e. 'death panels'). The Left scoffed at such a notion, but there is really no way any system of universal health care can stay afloat without such rationing of care and government control of costs. Now that Obamacare is law, what's surprising to me is just how fast it spun up. For example, health insurance companies must now -- yes, NOW -- obtain permission before they can raise their rates more than a certain amount regardless of market conditions. Saying 'see I told you so' is cold comfort when the death panels convene, so this is yet another reason that the best solution is to repeal the whole ugly thing.
Some effects are already being felt. As of now, people who depend on HSAs (health savings accounts) have just lost the ability to purchase some medicines over the counter. Obamacare won't bend the cost curve down as promised, either. Instead, the costs of medical coverage will go up. On top of that, Obamacare is expanding the government's control over your healthcare decisions at every possible turn, and that's never a good thing. When you look at the costs involved, Obamacare is only hastening the inevitable reckoning of years of over-promising benefits without paying for them. The sooner we get it out of the way, the better of we'll all be.
The Left is saying that to repeal Obamacare would be to rip coverage right out from under millions of Americans and to jack up the deficit, but that is a blatant lie on both accounts. For starters, most of the nastiest provisions in Obamacare won't be implemented until 2014, and even the ones that have been put in place now (i.e. pre-existing conditions) have been utilized by just a few thousand people. Hardly the crisis they said prompted the need for Obamacare, huh?
Oh, and don't forget that the list of companies and organizations to which the Obama administration has given a waiver to opt-out of Obamacare has now risen to well over 200. Stop and think - if these businesses are being exempted from Obamacare because it's too expensive for them to participate and still remain in existence...well, pretty much anyone can figure that one out.
In short, anyone who thinks a repeal of Obamacare will cause the deficit to go up is either a political hack or more oblivious than a garden slug. For a simple and quick explanation of how the Dems can say Obamacare will reduce the deficit while Reps say Obamacare will jack it up through the roof, go here and listen to the audio clips [there's a bonus audio clip on this site talking about raising the debt ceiling...gulp! maybe we should raise the ceiling after all...].
Obamacare is a bloated piece of garbage that will expand costs and government beyond the Left's wildest dreams, so repealing it will do just the opposite. And no, it won't kill any jobs, either; again, a repeal will do the opposite. Remember that flowchart showing how Obamacare will work?
Now, you tell me how this bureaucratic nightmare of multi-colored spaghetti is going to cost less! There are a multitude of reasons a repeal of Obamacare should be the first agenda item of the new House GOP.
Fortunately for us, new House Majority Leader John Boehner has paid attention. The first vote for an Obamacare repeal bill -- which weighs in at a whopping 2 pages, short enough for even the most idiotic liberal to read in its entirety (only took me a minute), unlike the 2000+ page Obamacare bill itself -- is already scheduled for January 12th.
Engaging in high-stakes chicken, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned Boehner not to bother passing a repeal bill because he would kill it in the Senate. In a move that makes me think someone has actually been listening to all those phone calls and e-mails they've been receiving over the past two years, here is Boehner's response:
Thank you for reminding us – and the American people – of the backroom deal that you struck behind closed doors with ‘Big Pharma,’ resulting in bigger profits for the drug companies, and higher prescription drug costs for 33 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D, at a cost to the taxpayers of $42.6 billion.
The House is going to pass legislation to repeal that now. You’re welcome.
YES!!!
Are the Republicans actually in a mood to pick this fight? Kinda sounds like it to me. If so, there's truly hope for all of us.
And he's right to pick that fight because he's got a LOAD of support. Rasmussen continues to report extremely high numbers of Americans who want Obamacare repealed - a full 60%! Almost half (46%) strongly want it repealed, almost double the number of those who strongly oppose repeal.
Seemingly figuring this out, Democrats have now resorted to begging the GOP not to repeal Obamacare outright. It's absolutely shameful how some Democrats are directly contradicting themselves now that they're not running the show. For example, Claire McCaskill of MO is now singing a very different tune:
Big Lib Claire McCaskill suddenly disapproves of the individual mandate in Obamacare.That isn’t what she said when 71% if Missouri voters rejected Obamacare.
The day after that vote she lectured Missourians about the benefits of the mandate.But for some reason, Claire is now distancing herself from her vote.
That’s weird?
Politico reported:Speaking on MSNBC Wednesday morning, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill suggested that Democrats should ditch the individual mandate required in President Obama’s health reform law.
It’s a proposed amendment to legislation she supported that’s deeply unpopular in Missouri just as she ramps up for a challenging reelection bid.
“There’s other ways we can get people into the pool — I hope — other than a mandate, and we need to look at that,” McCaskill said Wednesday morning on MSNBC.
Huh. Go figure. Once again, hypocrisy doesn't quite cover it. I think she's heading for retirement in two years.
Regardless, I heartily applaud Boehner and the House Majority for bringing a simple and easy repeal bill to a vote immediately. They were listening, and they appear to be delivering. Even if the House passes a repeal, it would still have to get through the Senate before coming to Obama's desk, and it's not realistic to think that would actually happen. However, the American people have demanded for well over a year that Obamacare go away, so the GOP is absolutely right to continue passing a repeal bill over and over and over and over, forcing Dems to go on record again and again and explain why they want this government takeover of health care. Who knows? Maybe enough Dems would eventually wear down and defect that it would even have enough support to override the President's veto. The point is that this is what the American people want, so it's exactly what the GOP needs to do.
Yeah, plenty of real reforms are needed. Things like allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines and more strongly connecting the tie between paying for medical care and receiving care definitely need to be addressed, but you can't take step two until step one is already in the books. The best way to explain this that I've heard went something like this.
How much poison is too much? If something is toxic, why would you have any of it at all? Wouldn't you get it as far away from you as possible, and only then find something beneficial? Obamacare is toxic to the American way of life, and Americans know it. So, why would we settle for anything less than a total repeal? We shouldn't, and we need to demand our elected representatives do the same.
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. I'm most impressed and heartened by the opening moves by our guys. Let's hope they follow through and remain steadfast in their efforts over the next two years. If they do, I think we will see a much brighter future.
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