Republicans’ overwhelming victories in Tuesday night’s election were in large part a referendum on Obamacare, according to health policy expert and New York former Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey, who appeared Wednesday on "America’s Forum" on
Newsmax TV.
"Obamacare got trounced last night," McCaughey said. "The winning senatorial candidates all made Obamacare a key part of their campaign. Joni Ernst is one example, she pledged in some of her TV ads, as she was wearing a pistol, that she was going to unload on Obamacare when she got into the United States Senate. And the polls show going into this election that Obamacare was more unpopular now than even when it was originally rammed through Congress in 2010."
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McCaughey advised Republicans, once they control both chambers, to push through several bills to repeal "the most offensive parts of Obamacare."
"Don't just throw us a crumb like repealing the medical device tax, something
[Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell has mentioned on occasion," she cautioned. "No, we want to repeal the freedom-destroying individual mandate, the job-destroying employer mandate, the bailout on insurance companies, the controls on your doctors, and that slush fund called navigators that literally just streams money to the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and SCIU. Those are some of the things that should be repealed. Let's pass them in both houses, put them on the president's desk, and dare him to veto those bills."
Considering President Barack Obama’s hardline stance on his piece of signature legislation, he will probably veto any bill that comes to his desk attempting to alter it, even if both branches of Congress pass it, according to Newsmax Deputy Health Editor Nick Tate.
"There's likely to be in the next couple of months negotiated steps that address piecemeal some of the issues that Betsy's talking about," said Tate.
"The medical device tax we'll see go away. We may see delays in the implementation of the employer mandate, which kicks in for the first time beginning Jan. 1. We may see some other minor changes in how the laws are written and then come Jan. 1 when Republicans have control of both branches, we may see wider reforms."
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Americans need to understand that they are able to renounce Obamacare, McCaughey added.
"Let's make it clear," she stressed. "The American public is not stuck with Obamacare any longer than it's stuck with Obama. The fact is that the health law has enrolled about 6 million people in Medicaid who were previously uninsured and about 2.5 million in the health insurance exchanges who were previously uninsured. That's only 8.5 million total out of a nation of 312 million people. This is small potatoes. We can get rid of Obamacare when we get rid of Obama."
Considering the Republican wave in the midterms, Democrats are probably more willing to break right on Obamacare, McCaughey predicted.
"They got their derrieres handed to them last night," she said. "Plenty of Democrats are getting increasingly afraid of Obamacare. They didn't want to campaign with the president before and they don't want to be associated with this health law now and you bet there are going to be additional problems with the website. That's why the administration, in a faint effort to avoid this rout last night, actually postponed the enrollment period until after the election."