On Obamacare Repeal, Republicans Use Same Game Used To Pass It

Jan, 2017

This has liberals very freaked out, but, as David French notes, what comes around goes around, because, as Vox notes, Democrats cannot stop it

(Vox) The new Congress was sworn in on Tuesday, and the first thing it did was prepare to repeal Obamacare.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Michael Enzi (R-WY) introduced a budget resolution Tuesday that includes “reconciliation instructions” that enable Congress to repeal Obamacare with a simple Senate majority. Passing a budget resolution that includes those instructions will mean that the legislation can pass through the budget reconciliation process, in which bills cannot be filibustered.

That means Republicans will only need 50 of their 52 members in the Senate, and a bare majority in the House, to pass legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act. According to the Wall Street Journal, the budget resolution could be passed by both houses as early as next week.

Vox’s Dylan Matthews disingenuously forgets how Obamacare was actually passed, but, that’s what Liberals do

The idea that Republicans could junk Obamacare with a simple majority vote may sound baffling, given that Barack Obama famously had to wrangle together all 60 Senate Democrats in late 2009 to push the law through in the first place.

It was initially passed with 60, but, remember, they lost that vote when Scott Brown won, and instead of working with Republicans, they went with the highly partisan roadway, and pulled shenanigans leading to reconciliation.

What makes this possible is that Republicans aren’t actually going to repeal all of Obamacare, as my colleague Sarah Kliff has explained. But they’re going to repeal enough of it to reverse almost all of the coverage gains made under it.

Some things will be left intact, such as coverage for kids up to 26 and the pre-existing conditions rider. You can expect a serious amount of caterwauling from Democrats. Let’s consider just why Obamacare needs to be repealed and replaced

Repealing Obamacare affects everyone
Obamacare touches just about everyone.

…

“The ACA made changes in every part of the health care system,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, of the Affordable Care Act. “Virtually everyone has been touched by the ACA.”

As we see from the headline, subhead, and third paragraph, this horrendous bill touches really everyone. The original intent was to make sure that the 40-45 million Americans without health insurance were able to get it. Then what gets passed, followed by all the rule making since, involves the federal government heavily in not just our health insurance, but our health care. Our business. And doesn’t really make it better. Nor less expensive.

Change is coming. Democrats need to get that through their minds. And, hey, I thought Liberals said they liked change? That said, Republicans need to be very careful to make sure the system stays calm as it transitions.