Tuesday, October 5, 2010

ObamaCare can and must be repealed

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/ct-oped-1005-byrne-20101005,0,3014554.column

by Dennis Byrne

Can ObamaCare, the most complex, far-reaching and epically destructive legislation enacted in living memory be repealed?


The thought is at once alluring or repulsive, reasonable or batty, depending on your politics. My politics say repeal is necessary and possible.

At first blush, it would seem impossible. Powerful interests are aligned on both sides and, presumably, a tie or standoff would go to the status quo. Even if Republicans could take control of both houses of Congress next month (some starry-eyed partisans are perilously taking a Democratic trouncing for granted), they still face a president whose name is permanently attached to this law. ObamaCare opponents would have to be clever, indeed, to craft a strategy that could foil a near certain veto by President Barack Obama.

Inertia also favors the status quo, as well as the populous' exhaustion with the yearlong health care hostilities. In their desire for an armistice, much of the public just might not want to restart the war.

Except that all the old rules are out the window. Polls show that opposition to ObamaCare has not abated since its passage in March, when it faced great public antipathy.

In fact, pollster.com has reported that ObamaCare is even less popular now than when it passed.


Some Democrats, recognizing the continuing demands for repeal by a majority — not just a plurality — have tried to hide behind a "mend it, don't end it" strategy. But that still leaves them in the minority.

What's keeping up the public pressure? You would have expected some opponents to have dropped off after the law's passage, having accepted a fait accompli. The Obama administration has encouraged that with a publicity blitz that included mailings to Americans about ObamaCare's great boons and an Andy Griffith television spot touting ObamaCare to seniors. (Five senators have asked for an investigation to determine whether the ads violate laws against using tax money for campaign purposes.) Whatever little success such propaganda has achieved apparently has been offset by Americans disillusioned by increasing evidence of ObamaCare's failures.

Just a few of them: ObamaCare was supposed to stop increasing health insurance premiums, even lower them in some cases. But a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study projected that premiums in a decade could rise 111 percent with ObamaCare, compared with 79 percent without ObamaCare. A review by John Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis finds that 87 million Americans "will no longer be able to retain the health plan they have and the number could be as high as 117 million."

Section 1311 of the new health care act will give the secretary of Health and Human Services and her minions the power to establish "guidelines" that will sting physicians with fines if they are not followed. This has led to the creation of Docs4PatientCare, a group of doctors who are leaving letters in their waiting rooms warning patients of the impact of ObamaCare. The letter warns that in addition to "badly exacerbating the current doctor shortage," the ObamaCare will also bring about "major cost increases, rising insurance premiums, higher taxes, a decline in new medical techniques, a fall-off in the development of miracle drugs as well as rationing by government panels and bureaucrats … that will force delays of months or sometimes years for hospitalization or surgery."

But what do they know? They're only doctors who are firsthand witnesses to this train wreck.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously insisted that we have to pass ObamaCare to find out what's in it. Now, we're finding out that this 1,000-plus page law has left so much out that bureaucrats, far from any kind of public accountability, (e.g. the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board) will be making crucial decisions. It only stands to reason: A mere 1,000 pages is inherently unable to regulate and manage the nation's entire health care system; bureaucrats will be filling in the blanks for decades to come. And what surprises they will have.

A "repeal and replace" pledge is gaining ground in the House, the place most likely to suffer the slings of voter outrage. Tactics are being debated, including House refusal to fund the law's most egregious sections. Opponents are savoring, with an eye to the 2012 election, Obama's rigid and deceptive defense of the law. Stop it for now, and replace it after fed-up voters dump everyone who gave us the law.

Political "realists" assure us that stopping the law's momentum won't work, and that repealing it is fantasy. They're not counting on the reality that as we discover more and more what's in the law, it will become ever more hated.

5 comments:

  1. >>"some starry-eyed partisans are perilously taking a Democratic trouncing for granted"

    As you know, L.C., I agree with that statement. I'm still not at all convinced that the Republicans will take control of the House or the Senate. I'm sure they will gain some seats, but a majority? I'm more than a little skeptical.

    By the way, isn't it necessary for a president to sign new legislation into law? And in order for a president to do that doesn't there have to be a president? And to be a president, doesn't a person have to have been born a full citizen of the U.S.A. with no allegiances to any other country?

    You don't need to worry about ObamaCare because the United States doesn't even have a genuine president to sign it into law.

    Now, of course, if someone could produce a birth certificate showing he was born in the U.S. and that both of his parents were fully and exclusively United States citizens, then - THEN! - we would have something to worry about.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  2. I went to a restaurant today and ordered the Nancy Pelosi Lunch Special-- you order it, pay for it, then you find out what it is when they bring it to you.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Now, of course, if someone could produce a birth certificate showing he was born in the U.S.".

    I believe they have, actually. If you would have read his biography you would know this... ? and both of his parents don't need to be U.S. citizens, only he does. I seem to remember this requirement from 5th grade but I don't seem to recall that the PARENTS also had to be citizens. What are we on, a witch hunt?

    Chill out. We have a president who has a birth certificate that is completely legal. That is the LEAST of our worries in this country today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ginny-

    Thanks for the comment. I welcome any point of view and intelligent discussion.

    Obviously you're a fan of the "Hope and Change" man. I am not, as you may have surmised from the theme of my posts.

    But I'm equal opportunity-I wasn't a Bush fan, or a Clinton fan. I was a Bush Sr. and Reagan fan, but have since reconsidered that position.

    I am very much a Constitutionalist, and believe that our meandering from the path that document set us on has resulted in the mess we're in today.

    I'll let Stephen T. chime in on the birth certificate if he chooses, as I am on the fence on this one.

    On the one hand, what Obama produced is the same one I produced to get my current position (a state-issued certificate of live birth).

    On the other hand, with all of the controversy, why the heck wopuldn't he produce the real thing, especially now when it would give the Democrats a political boost?

    I must confess to bringing up the certificate when it suits my posts but definitely do not feel as strongly about it as many others do.

    I'm all about the track record (of both parties) and so far his seems to be a continuation of the massive overspending that has been going on for a few decades that is leaving this country destitute.

    I agree with you-we have a lot of worries in this country today, and neither party is interested in addressing them.

    I've got no children and realistically have at most forty years before I check out from this rock, but anyonewith offspring should be worried as hell for the mess we're leaving them to fund.

    For the record, I wrote in Ron Paul.

    Larry

    ReplyDelete
  5. >>...What are we on, a witch hunt?

    Witch hunt?! Shhh... be vewy, vewy qwiiet; I'm hunting wabbits - wascally, Kenyan wabbits.

    Ginny The Sock Monkey, if Obama has publicly shown his birth certificate, as you claim, then please tell us the name of the hospital where he was born and the name of the physician who delivered that wascal. If you've read his biography, then surely you know the hospital's name. Please share that information with the rest of us.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete