Wednesday, September 25, 2013
"I remain a staunch opponent of the president's health-care law and will continue to fight for its full repeal. ... Repealing this costly, intrusive law is the first step toward real reform."
—Mississippi Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, futilely calling for Obamacare's repeal in his recent weekly newsletter.
Why it stinks: Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature legislation, more than 30 times.
Mr. Wicker, similar to the rest of the Republican rank-and-file, is resorting to talking points designed to frighten the American people into opposing it, something the GOP has accomplished with varying degrees of success.
In reality, the ACA will provide millions of Americans with an opportunity to purchase health insurance they can afford. For far too many of those people, health care is out of reach financially, leaving them with no option but to wait until conditions are so bad as to warrant an emergency-room visit—but without having any ability to pay the bill. That costs every American taxpayer.
We can't help but wonder what the result could be if Republicans would put their energies into coming up with alternatives that work instead of the constant harangues about repealing the law. The ACA is based, after all, on a conservative plan to provide Americans with health insurance.
Comments
js1976 10 years, 7 months ago
No different than the Republican "talking points' you fail to acknowledge the negative impact this legislation will have on many of our citizens. I will not argue that I would prefer to see alternatives from the GOP, but I don't think the Obama administration would be willing to compromise much more.
tstauffer 10 years, 7 months ago
I guess there's some question as to how much the Obama Administration needs to compromise since ACA is already a law. If the GOP would introduce legislation designed to deal with problems that have already cropped up, I imagine the Senate and White House would take those proposals as they come.
What the GOP seems to keep doing is trying to "un-pass" it. It passed. They want it un-passed.
The real solution would be to find any particular problems -- who are all of the people being hurt by this largely Republican idea that was successfully implemented in Massachusetts under Governor Romney -- and introduce legislation to help those people or tweak the implementation.
But they don't do that. GOP lawmakers in the state sit on their hands and try to wish ACA away by not implementing exchanges (where things would be bought and sold for goodness sake). National GOP leaders pass useless bill after useless amendment trying to undo ACA.
Wicker himself has introduced no legislation this year regarding ACA, although he's co-sponsored bills like the "American Liberty Restoration Act" designed to strike down the "mandate" for health insurance. (It's actually, technically, a tax penalty, and a smart one -- since if you don't have insurance you'll probably be asking or healthcare on the government's dime at some point.)
So, they're not serious. It's political posturing. It's, apparently, as clever as they get these days.
And it's the "completely fail to govern" strategy that will, ultimately, relegate the GOP to permanent (or, well, generational) back-bench status.
justjess 10 years, 7 months ago
These Republicans, to include Wicker, have done nothing these past 6 years but waste time and money. Are they willing to give up their checks during the threatened gov. shut-down?
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID