ObamaCare proponents have already been mobilizing their forces, including their media allies. The Las Vegas Sun penned an editorial yesterday slamming House Republicans for the agenda they plan to pursue, including repeal of ObamaCare, and this morning I received an email from Organizing for America.
Our progress is under attack.The facts that not a single Republican voted for ObamaCare and 34 House Democrats joined Republicans in voting against would tend to argue against that. But who cares about facts when you have emotion on your side?
Their majority is not even a day old, but House Republicans are already getting ready to pass a bill to repeal health reform.
Instead of focusing on the future, they want to put insurance companies back in charge of our health care. To go back to the days when these companies could deny coverage to children based on pre-existing conditions, cancel coverage when people would get sick, or limit the care you could receive -- even when you needed more. When seniors would be forced to choose between paying their mortgage and paying for their prescription drugs, simply because they landed in the "donut hole" in coverage.
They want to turn our progress into a partisan fight.
But you and I know that the Affordable Care Act and other reforms to protect consumers did not pass because of a partisan or ideological agenda.
For their part, conservative organizations are rallying their side as well. Also this morning, Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks released a letter urging House members to vote in favor of repeal.
On behalf of over a million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to vote yes on the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act," which would repeal the Obamacare law enacted last March. Despite Americans loudly voicing opposition to the misguided health care law, it was rammed through with backroom deals and major tax increases. Polls have continuously shown that the majority of Americans want Washington to reverse the government takeover of their health care.Newly-discovered unintended consequences of the law appear with regularity. From those mentioned in Kibbe's letter to the provision that prohibits expansion and new facilities by physician-owned hospitals to the countless others, the law is making health care more expensive and less accessible.
Nearly 10 months after its passage, the new health care law has already done damage to our economy and way of life. Insurance premiums are soaring across the nation. According to the Washington Examiner, the numerous government mandates in the law have caused insurance prices to rise by as much as 47 percent in Connecticut. When the law is fully implemented in 2016, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that the average price of insurance will be 27 percent to 30 percent higher for all Americans. Struggling American families will have to pay an average of $2,100 more for their health insurance. In other words, the law will accomplish the exact opposite of what it was intended to achieve.
The unintended consequences of the new health care law are heartbreaking. Due to a provision that insurance companies must charge the same rates for healthy and costly sick children, nearly every major insurance company has ceased offering child-only policies. Employer penalties in the law have led some major companies such as 3M to announce that they will no longer be offering health benefits to retirees. Employers have declared that they will drop insurance policies for low-income workers unless they are granted an exemption by the Department of Health and Human Services. So far, over 200 politically connected companies and unions have been offered waivers.
The worst is still to come.
The fact that waivers from certain provisions are being granted to selected companies may be the most egregious aspect of this legislation. Not only does it scream for corruption, as the well-connected receive rewards not available to the rest, but it attacks the very foundation of our system. John Adams famously wrote that ours is "a government of laws and not of men." No one is above the law, everyone is subject to it. But when we have men - bureaucrats and politicians - who are able to select how and to whom the laws apply and able to force certain individuals to obey its proscriptions while exempting others, we have ceased to be a government of laws.
I am under no illusion that this law will be repealed. As long as Barack Obama (or nearly any other Democrat) occupies the White House, repeal is impossible. But it is important to not allow the people to forget and to force the President and the law's supporters to put their signatures on it, with all of its costs and consequences.
UPDATE: George Scoville has some thoughts here as well.
* UPDATE 2: The Friday vote is incorrect. According to Politico,
Majority Leader-elect Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced Monday the timeline for considering the repeal legislation: The bill posted Monday, the Rules Committee will meet Thursday, and the rule for the debate will be considered on the House floor Friday. The repeal vote will follow on Wednesday, Jan 12.The 12th was the date I had originally heard. Turns out that was correct, after all.
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