No more excuses remain not to repeal Obamacare
Two-budget strategy will ensure the move does not stall
It seems that our congressmen of New Mexico are still not up to speed on the present Affordable Care Act. Perhaps I may be able to improve some of the horizons on this travesty.
“The Affordable Care Act” is no longer affordable; it never was. Average premiums for Obamacare plans will go up 25 percent this year, with some states seeing as much as a 116 percent increase.
Health insurance companies are dropping out of exchanges left and right, leaving five states and about a third of all U.S. counties with only one option to buy insurance.
And let’s not forget about 17 Obamacare co-op’s that have failed, leaving hundreds of thousands of Americans without insurance and costing billions in taxpayer dollars.
Since 2010, Republicans have promised to fully repeal Obamacare, campaigned on full repeal and voted over 60 times to repeal parts or all of this disastrous health care law.
Now the American people gave Republicans unified control of the government, there are no more excuses — even from this all-blue state.
Congress should begin this process this month by passing the fiscal year 2017 budget that it failed to pass earlier this year. That generic budget would also allow them to use a filibusterproof process known as budget reconciliation to pass a simple, one-sentence repeal of Obamacare with 51 Senate votes and have it ready for President-elect Donald Trump to sign after inauguration.
Once Obamacare is repealed, Congress should pass a second budget for fiscal year 2018 that lowers spending levels, and then debate and pass a series of conservative, freemarket health care reforms that enact consumer choice, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and lower cost.
This two-budget strategy will ensure that momentum for Obamacare repeal does not stall. It also provides ample time for individuals who have insurance through the Obamacare exchanges to transition back to the individual market without losing coverage.
The American people are so close to taking back their health care. Our Republican leaders in Congress have one last chance to make it a reality.
There are no more excuses.