The Repeal of the HealthCare Bill will add $230 billion to the deficit!
House Republicans are threatening to repeal the HealthCare Bill--and replace it!
At the end of their first week in office the new majority will, as they've promised in their Pledge to America, vote to repeal ObamaCare--the HealthCare Bill that took a long and difficult year to pass. Unfortunately, what finally emerged was a weakened compromise; a skeleton of real reform, forced upon the American people by the Obstructionist Party.
Last February I wrote an article, "UnAmerican Activities: An UnHealthy Debate," in which I described glaring disruptions to the discourse over quality healthcare reform. It was clearly an opportunity missed to discuss and finally control debilitating healthcare costs.
It was an incredibly ugly time in this 100 year battle.
Despite the lack of a Public Option--a program that would have brought healthy competition to an out-of-control, job killing industry--the bill has many positive provisions that are good for most Americans.
Instead of expanding and improving the legislation the Republicans are pushing repeal with a promise to replace it.
That would be a huge step backwards--a mistake the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), as reported in The Washington Post, projects will add $230 billion to the deficit.
Isn't their promise to reduce government spending?
The Pledge to America is a regressive approach that moves the country backwards rather than forward. The Republicans had 12 years as the majority to enact healthcare reform and stop the crippling affect greed driven healthcare and insurance companies have had on the overall economy. Eight of those years with a Republican administration. Were they unaware that healthcare was killing this country?
It begs the question, are they capable of enacting reform now? The answer is obvious, they can't! So the only thing they can do, the only thing they're good at, is talking about a plan and vilifying the Democrats for actually presenting one.
The repeal process has already begun with the vote in the House on Friday, Agreeing to the Resolution to consider H.R. 2, the repeal of The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. All 232 Republicans voting voted in lock-step to bring the repeal vote to the floor this Wednesday. Four Democrats joined them in the Ayes while 181 Democrats voted no.
Haven't they done enough harm?
It would be beneficial to go back one year and look at the obstacles to providing quality, affordable, and accessible healthcare--visionary reform that could have been a long-term solution to the growing national healthcare problem.
The Pledge to America is well written and optimistic, but it's all bullshit coming from the party that has, over the last 15 years, broken every tenet that the pledge champions.
Right now this country is UnHealthy and in dire need of rebalancing. The Republicans are clearly not the answer. They severely damaged this country as a majority for 12 long years and are a threat to continue their economy destroying policies.
It's already starting with their decision to make healthcare repeal the first item on their agenda. It portends a long and difficult two years. Republicans' focus on repeal does little to correct the inflationary distress healthcare has had on American families and businesses.
American healthcare was exceptional when, not so very long ago, healthcare was not-for-profit--run by caring communities, philanthropies, and religious organizations whose objective was promoting health and not driven by profit.
Maybe it's time we took a hard look at the for-profit model if we're serious about improving healthcare.
The answer is available--but it won't be found in repeal.