GOP: Show Some Spine, Repeal Obamacare NOW!

The Republicans in Washington did the unthinkable, especially in the United States Senate as well as in the White House.

The pundits not only believed that Hillary Clinton would win the White House, but they were pretty sure that the Democrat would gain a slim majority in the United States Senate.

Neither happened.

In fact, Republicans now have a solid majority in both chambers, and are looking forward to expanding their power in 2018, especially now that Trump is fulfilling many of his campaign promises, and the economy is growing faster than expected.

Republicans in Congress, however, are struggling with what to do with their new-found success.

The biggest problem they face? How to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Check out this private conversation which signaled their fears of the consequences. Click here.

Here is Daily Signal's take (with some of my responses)"

Republicans Express Doubts Over Obamacare ‘Repeal andReplace’ Plan

Some Republican lawmakers are beginning to have doubts about the GOP’s plans to repeal and replace Obamacare, they revealed in a closed-door gathering Thursday in Philadelphia.

Perhaps this is conversation which we should have out in the open.

But those lawmakers find themselves at odds with conservatives who have for years pushed for repeal of the Affordable Care Act—as well as the top Republican in the House.

Finally, the Speaker of the House is in league with the conservative caucus. They have not always seen eye-to-eye on key issues.

“We have to repeal it,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said of Obamacare in an interview with The Daily Signal. “That’s what we told voters we’re going to do, and we have to repeal all of it. Every mandate. Every regulation.”

I agree with Congressman Jordan. The whole thing needs to be scrapped, and proper health care reform begin from scratch. Piecemeal approaches will not work without a clear and dedicated roadmap toward full repeal.

Ryan affirmed his commitment to getting rid of Obamacare:

“We have a moral obligation to fix this problem. Period,” he said.

That legislation—passed through a budget tool called reconciliation—also would include parts of a replacement.

For years, conservatives such as Jordan, who previously chaired the roughly 40-member House Freedom Caucus, have made a target of Obamacare—which Congress passed in 2010 without a single Republican vote.

Now that Republicans have the numbers to successfully repeal the health care law, Jordan is calling for Congress to move quickly.

Repeal! Repeal it now,. Yes, it will cause pain early on. But the hemorrhaging is bad already, and will get much worse as the economic burden and moral laxity of this terrible law continues. 

“I want to do it as soon as we possibly can, because I start from the very fundamental premise that health care will be better and cost less when Obamacare is gone,” the Ohio Republican said. “So let’s get rid of it as quickly as we can.”

Despite a commitment to repealing Obamacare in coming weeks, some Republicans are skeptical that ending taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, should be included in that action.

This is the most frustrating part of this whole debate.

I have no problem with defunding Planned Parenthood separately from the legislation.

The abortion mill which masquerades as a low-income health care facility needs to go.

That provision was part of the bill Republicans sent to President Barack Obama’s desk early last year to roll back major provisions of Obamacare.

Obama vetoed that bill. But with Republican control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, conservatives are pushing for the new repeal bill to at a minimum mirror the legislation passed last year.

Republicans better find a way to ensure Obamacare goes to hell and does not come back from the dead.

The replacement aspect can come into play within two months.

Repeal is necessary, though, and the candy-ass approach offered by US Senator Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins is wholly unacceptable. No state should have an exchange, since the federal government will still reuire taxpayer dollars to keep those exchanges going.

Republican governors as well as Democratic lawmakers have embraced the Medicaid expansion, which has turned out to be the "fool's bet" which Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker had called it.

The GOP House leadership needs to develop a clear narrative how the "Affordable Care Act" has become precariously unaffordable, while ruining businesses and pushing people into part-time work, or no work at all.

They should listen to some of the harrowing stories that working people have endured in California, where standard-bearer Covered California has let down millions. They lost their original health insurance and their doctors. They tried to purchase a different plan on the exchange, which turned out to be more expensive. Doctors will not accept patients with the low-return rates that the Covered California programs offer.

This bill is bad, and must be put down and shoved into the bureaucratic morgue, never to see the light of day ever again.

Republicans need to grow a spine and repeal Obamacare--every word of it.

If they want to enact programs which will protect individuals with pre-existing conditions, they should do so in separate legislation.

They should also enact these reforms right away:

I. Health Savings Accounts (HSA)

II. Permit the Purchase of Health Insurance Across State Lines

III. Remove sclerotic licensure laws

IV. End the arbitrary barriers which prevent doctors from forming limited co-ops

V. Allow more people to become doctors

VI. Restore a trade-oriented, cash-cost direct relationship between doctor and patient as much as possible

VII. Enact Tort Reform