With GOP command of Capitol Hill around the corner, Republicans should use their hard-won mandate to obliterate Obama’s medical Godzilla. A record 58 percent of registered voters want to junk Obamacare — according to a Dec. 10 Fox News survey.
Some nervous Republicans may prefer to let the Supreme Court neutralize Obamacare through King v. Burwell, which it will hear in March. This case will determine the legality of subsidies that Obamacare pays enrollees in 36 states that did not establish their own exchanges.
Who knows what the U.S. Supreme Court might do? It could delight Obamacare fans, as happened in 2012. A painfully narrow decision could specify how many nurses can dance on the tip of a hypodermic needle, but otherwise leave people perplexed. A decisive victory for Obamacare foes could transform this debate into three dozen distinct conversations, as governors and legislators in states with federal exchanges decide next steps.
If Washington Republicans expect to maintain a coherent message amid such chaos, they should start popping stronger anti-psychotics. At best, a wait-for- the Supreme Court strategy could banish this vital issue to a judicial back burner until the Supremes adjourn next June. The Court will do what the Court will do. And so should Congress.
Thus, the House should adopt full and immediate repeal of Obamacare. The Senate should vote on such a measure, in a filibuster-proof procedure, such as budget reconciliation — which is precisely how Democrats enacted Obamacare. Some nervous Democrats who survived their party’s slaughter last November will support repeal.
They have cover to do so, now that Democrat senators Tom Harkin of Iowa, Charles Schumer of New York, and even Harry Reid of Nevada have denounced Obamacare as a costly, convoluted unforced error. Obama will veto such a measure. Let him. However, the GOP’s subsequent move should make Obama very nervous.
Congress next should adopt the Like Your Plan, Keep Your Plan Act of 2015. It simply should read, “The Affordable Care Act notwithstanding, all Americans who like their healthcare plans may keep their healthcare plans. Period.”
Many Democrats will find it hard to oppose a bill that lets satisfied Americans maintain their coverage.
Republicans should tell Obama, “On 37 different occasions, according to PolitiFact.com, you publicly promised the American people that if they liked their plans, they could keep their plans. We want to give you one final opportunity to keep this solemn pledge to the nation that elected and re-elected you to the White House.”
Obama can sign that bill, making Obamacare voluntary. Alternatively, he can veto it and confirm, once and for all, that he flat-out lied to the American people as he sold them a barge full of fraudulent goods. That will be a tough, legacy-defining decision — and Obama will have to make it himself.
Republicans should keep tossing Obamacare reform measures on Obama’s desk, like confetti at a New Year’s Eve party. Let Obama decide to sign or veto separate bills to scrap the job-crushing, cure-killing Medical Device Tax; free individuals to buy plans with tax-free dollars, allow Americans to purchase insurance across state lines, permit patients to secure coverage through private associations and civic groups, revamp malpractice lawsuits, and authorize risk pools and other institutions to assist those with pre-existing conditions.
Although Democrats uniformly would reject a single, gigantic Obamacare overhaul, each of these discrete modifications almost certainly will attract Democrat votes. Thus, Republicans will generate bipartisan support for creative ideas to replace Obamacare, one piece at a time. Even Obama might support some of these changes. Republicans should invite his collaboration.
Americans finally will see — in broad daylight — the features of Republican-crafted, market-driven, patient-centered, lower-cost, limited-government healthcare reform. If Obama cooperates, magnificent. If he becomes President No, Americans soon will see why they should elect a chief executive who will sanction such major surgery.
And as America’s top jurists ponder King v. Burwell, Congress’ diligent efforts to slay this reviled beast will not go unnoticed.
Deroy Murdock is a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University. Read more reports from Deroy Murdock — Click Here Now.