“How about the fact that health reform really isn’t paid for? That half the dollars needed to pay for it will require Medicare cuts so draconian that Congress is unlikely to ever let them take place? Hmm…You don’t remember reading about that? What about the fact that families at the same income level will get vastly different subsidies under the reform — differences that amount to $10,000 a year or more? Ahh…You didn’t read about that either?”
“Republicans on a House Appropriations subcommittee beat back Democratic efforts Wednesday to protect the health reform law, winning passage of a spending bill that would defund the Affordable Care Act, eliminate a decades-old health research agency and slash the budget for other health programs. The subcommittee approved the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations bill on a mostly party-line vote of 8-6.”
“In short, small business owners will change from investing in their employees and their company to a strategy of avoiding growth that will require them to comply with the health care law. Support for the law is very low among small businesses surveyed (21%), and almost eight-out-of-ten (77%) of small businesses surveyed support its repeal.”
“Waging old battles with new zeal, the House passed a bill on Wednesday to repeal President Obama’s health care overhaul law less than two weeks after the Supreme Court upheld it as constitutional. The bill was approved by a vote of 244 to 185, with five Democrats supporting repeal.”
“In short, nearly all of the professed current benefits of ObamaCare are overstated and consist mostly of a system of imposed cost-shifting that hides the cost of the regulations. The problems they allegedly solve are relatively easy to fix and at a far lower cost to us all.”
“Americans are more likely to say the 2010 healthcare law upheld by the Supreme Court last week will hurt the national economy (46%) rather than help it (37%), while 18% say they don’t know or that it will have no effect.”
“Reconciliation allows a bill to pass the Senate in a limited time period, with limited amendments, and with only 51 votes; filibusters are not permitted. In 2010, Democrats split their health-policy changes into two bills, one of which they enacted through this fast-track process. In 2013, a Republican majority could use the same reconciliation process to repeal those changes.”
“As the Los Angeles Times reports, for every $1 that President Obama’s campaign has spent in support of Obamacare, his administration has spent another $65 in taxpayers’ money. The Times writes that the Obama administration has spent $46 million of taxpayers’ money in support of Obama’s centerpiece legislation, while the Obama campaign has spent only $703,000. That’s a 65-to-1 ratio of matching funds, with taxpayers doing the matching.”
“Before ObamaCare was enacted, the health sector was coiled for a 21st century transformation. But entrepreneurs moved to the sidelines, frightened by the huge hurdles from hundreds of new boards and commissions, thousands of regulators, and tens of thousands of pages of regulation spawned by ObamaCare. With the new financial incentives conservatives are proposing, the health sector would build on the core strength of our market economy, with consumers demanding better choices of more affordable health care and health coverage.”
“On Friday House Republicans released more documents that expose the collusion between the health-care industry and the White House that produced ObamaCare, and what a story of crony capitalism it is. If the trove of emails proves anything, it’s that the Tea Party isn’t angry enough.”