Options for preventing the implementation of Obamacare are
diminishing
as Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans appear to have given up
on a full repeal of the health care law.
Boehner is now considering
gutting particular aspects of the law by applying pressure on Obama and
working with moderate Democrats.
But, the failure of the Boehner and House Republicans to defund
Obamacare back in April 2011, during the first budget battle, leaves
some to doubt their dedication to continuing the fight against
Obamacare.
According to Senator John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the Republican Conference, the components of the law
targeted
for dissolution include a tax on medical devices, the Independent
Payment Advisory Board and the individual mandate requiring people to
buy insurance.
At the same time, House Republicans have been attempting to put their
stamp on the law. The Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and
Means committees have sent subpoenas to Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, over the past few weeks, demanding
information that committee leaders say she has refused to provide.
Far from being an easy endeavor, Randy Barnett, the Georgetown
University law professor who assisted in constructing the Supreme Court
argument against Obamacare earlier this year, said that, “it’s going to
become increasingly difficult because courts are much less willing to
overturn something that’s already entrenched.”
So, time is of the essence because though some court challenges
remain,
as parts of the law are implemented, the harder it will be to fight
it. “There’s no question that one of the reasons why we had as much
room to run as we did is we had a two year delay in implementing most of
the law,” Barnett said. “That opening is closing.”
One of the pending court cases is an Oklahoma
lawsuit
which maintains that insurance can be subsidized only through state run
exchanges and not by the federally backed ones that Obamacare enacts.
At the same time, Paul Howard, director of the Manhattan Institute’s
Center for Medical Progress and Stephen Parente, director of the Medical
Industry Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota, explain
on Real Clear Politics that Obamacare faces a number of obstacles:
“‘Delaying implementation [of Obamacare] until 2014
helped the president win re-election, but now the bill is coming due,’
the duo says. ‘The administration can’t forestall Obamacare’s massive
regulatory impact any longer, and the result will keep Congress and the
media occupied for months and years to come.’”
Boehner has also pointed to governors who may be able to thwart the
establishment of insurance exchanges in their respective states.
Republicans should continue to work diligently towards this effort because fully implemented Obamacare will
represent
over 1/6 of our economy. The Heritage Foundation has compiled an
Obamacare guide, demonstrating how it will affect specific groups of
individuals:
Seniors
Doctors
Business & The Economy
States
Families & Future Generations
The Uninsured
