Posted on 08/14/2015 1:55:42 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Let’s be honest. Obamacare was nothing more than a bait and switch. But Americans never took the bait.
In 2010, as President Obama and his fellow Democrats were trying desperately to ram Obamacare down our throats, they made one false claim after another. They told us health-care premiums would go down. They insisted if you liked your health-care plan you could keep it. They guaranteed Obamacare wouldn’t include any tax increases for the middle class. Americans didn’t buy these lofty promises then, and they certainly don’t now, given that each and every one of them has been broken.
Five years after Democrats forced Obamacare on the nation, Americans still don’t support it. We don’t like the president’s health-care plan, and we don’t want to keep it. Therefore, we must pull this dysfunctional and destructive law out by the roots.
We must repeal Obamacare in its entirety as soon as possible. But we can’t stop there. The president’s policies must be replaced with a plan that will send power back to the people and the states, fix the decades-old problems of rising medical-care and health-insurance costs, and support economic growth instead of punishing workers and small businesses. We must do all of this while ensuring affordable coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, and removing the fear that something as simple as changing jobs could result in loss of coverage.
Next week, I will release a plan to replace Obamacare that accomplishes all of these goals, and addresses the following problems with the law:
Too Much Government Interference: The primary reason Obamacare is such a disaster is because it’s built on the flawed premise that Washington bureaucrats are in a better position than Americans are to make decisions about their own health care. Obamacare took away people’s ability to choose the health-care plan that best fits their needs. It robbed states of the ability to respond to and protect the needs of their consumers, and it taxed and regulated innovation out of the health-care industry. My plan to replace this flawed law will put patients and doctors back in charge of health-care decisions, as they should be, spurring innovation in the process.
Fewer Options: Under Obamacare, millions of Americans lost their health-care coverage and are no longer able to see their preferred doctor or nurse. One analysis shows there are 42 percent fewer oncologists and cardiologists and 32 percent fewer primary-care doctors under Obamacare plans. My plan will result in more health-care options that fit the needs of patients.
Higher Coverage Costs: The Heritage Foundation has found that, from 2014 to 2015, average premiums in Ohio increased by approximately 11 percent. In Louisiana, premiums for young people increased by about 17 percent, and families in Kansas saw an increase of almost 14 percent. And we expect to see even higher premium increases in 2016 and beyond. Rather than out-of-control premium increases, my plan will actually make health care more affordable for everyone.
Mandates that Harm Workers, Businesses, and the Economy: Obamacare’s heavy-handed mandates have been a wet blanket on our country’s economic recovery, punishing workers and businesses. The Congressional Budget Office has warned that the law will reduce participation in the labor force by more than 2 million full-time-equivalent workers. Furthermore, in recent years, hundreds of thousands of workers may have seen their hours cut thanks to Obamacare’s destructive incentives. The most recent jobs report underscores the unfortunate reality that 6.3 million people who would prefer to be working full-time jobs are stuck in part-time jobs because their hours have been cut or they are unable to find a full-time job. My plan won’t use arbitrary federal rules to punish businesses and employees.
Unsustainable Spending: Every American should have access to their choice of affordable health insurance. But we can accomplish this without saddling taxpayers with a bill of nearly $2 trillion, which is what Obamacare costs. In 2009, before Obamacare became law, public polls showed that 80 percent of Americans were satisfied with the quality of their medical care. Despite this fact, Democrats did what they always do. They decided to use hard-earned taxpayer dollars to create a massive new federal program. My plan will streamline government and lower the burden on taxpayers, so they can keep more of their hard-earned money.
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse: Big-government programs like Obamacare are breeding grounds for waste, fraud, and abuse. Democrats in Washington have already squandered over $1 billion in grants to states for the creation of Obamacare exchanges that have been abandoned because they are unsustainable and unworkable. Additionally, the Government Accountability Office found it was easy to falsify information and fraudulently obtain subsidized coverage under Obamacare. My plan will be market- not government-driven, maximizing efficiency and minimizing waste.
Expanding health-care access and ensuring Americans with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage are laudable goals. But Obamacare was the wrong approach to accomplishing them. It’s brought pain and problems to families, patients, and doctors as well as to small businesses and their employees.
There is a better way. That is why I will soon be releasing a plan to reverse every single destructive Obamacare policy and make health care more affordable and accessible for Americans across the country. Stay tuned.
“Obamacare: Pull It out by the Roots and Replace It”
“Roots”- I call racism...INAPPROPRIATE! /s
Replace it with nothing at all. Government has no business being involved in health care, it has made the situation worse with every encroachment into the private domain. The Constitution allows the feds to have exactly diddly squat to do with anything healthcare-related.
Walker wins [only governor who has survived a recall election]!
So after yesterday’s sorry excuse for a defense of the stadium funding that NR posted, now they’ve got an entire article by Scott Walker essentially saying that next week he’ll review his healthcare plan?
Is there any more evidence needed to show Walker (like Rubio and Kasich) is among the GOPe’s prime backup plans to faltering Jeb?
More of the same.
“Replace it with nothing at all. Government has no business being involved in health care, it has made the situation worse with every encroachment into the private domain. The Constitution allows the feds to have exactly diddly squat to do with anything healthcare-related.”
Dead on.
New government laws to stop government interference.
"Waste fraud and abuse". We haven't heard that very often. Since every time we find out(actually admit) there is some, it gets fixed...by not mentioning it again until the next election...THEN all of a sudden like magic, there it is again. And also like magic the right guy just happens to come along at just the right time to fix it...NOT!That is why I will soon be releasing a plan to reverse every single destructive Obamacare policy and make health care more affordable and accessible for Americans across the country.
OH GHAG! What next? "It's for the children"? "A chicken in every pot"?
Here's a catch phrase: Been there done that WAY too many times, no thanks, not again.
Just pull it out by the roots and get the federal government out of health issues altogether.
Why not just drop the mandate? It would be difficult for most pols to be re-elected if they voted against that. The private sector will take it from there.
A little “s” statist is still a statist.
I think he means let the private sector once again take over health care. I don’t get that he wants a government program -unless I’m misreading what he said.
100% agree.....the gop falls for this mess everytime. Now way guvment should be in the health care business at all. They will only screw it up. A weed is a weed.
I think you and sf4dubya were the only ones who read it before commenting.
Or perhaps, the others are spinning for their candidate.
: )
Fix Obamacare by making it a new and improved republican plan instead of getting government out of our personal lives. More GOPe handbook recitations from lil' Jeb Jr.
Even if they hide their “s” or “S” statism—become campaign conservatives, as Cruz puts it—in order to get elected.
Looks like he is doing what he did in Wisconsin... implement conservative change of harmful liberal policies by leading the effort and educating the voter into supporting why that change is good. The average politically uneducated American voter has to better understand the issues so they are not sheep for the left, swayed by Democrat sob stories and union and Soros funded march mobs.
This is the kind of President we need :-)
You need to convince folks that healthcare isn’t a “right” for one thing.
Health starts with “you”.
You want healthcare insurance get a damn job and buy it.
Second that.
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