FIGHTING THE SAME OLD FIGHT

On Wednesday the House passed H.R. 2 with a vote of 245-189, a bill to repeal the health care bill that was passed back in March 2010.

This was nothing more than political grandstanding. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), the Democratic Leader, has stated that he will not bring this bill to a full vote in the Senate. Even if does pass the Senate by some miracle, President Obama stated on January 6 that he will veto the bill.

The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 that was passed last March currently has a 41-40 unfavorable rating compared to a 47-38 unfavorable rating after the 2010 Mid Terms. In this same poll, Republican support for repeal has dropped from 61% to now at 49%.

The reason for the change in opinion for the bill? Probably because the change in rhetoric and the recent enactment of certain aspects of the bill such as:

1. No denial of coverage because you have a “pre-existing condition”

2. No denial of coverage if a policyholder gets sick 

3. Children can remain on their parents coverage until they turn 26

4. Beginning this year, Medicare patients will receive a 50% discount on brand-name drugs 

5. Increasing access to health care coverage to those in lower income brackets

Since the Republicans are claiming that they want to repeal “government run health care,” let’s see how popular they would be if they started the process to repeal Medicare, Medicaid, CHIPs, Indian Health Service, and Veterans Affairs. Several political careers in the House (about 242 to be exact) would suddenly end if that was to happen.

 

The Congressional Budget Office has stated over and over that the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 will not increase the deficit. It will actually DECREASE the deficit by $143 billion during the years 2010-19. If somehow the Republicans get their way… repeal would INCREASE the deficit to $145 billion by 2019. By 2021, the INCREASE to the deficit would be approximately $230 billion. Now I say approximately due to the unforeseen effects of technical and economic changes. The Congressional Budget Office is a good conservative (in terms of math, not political ideology) figure to get an idea about what is going on.

How’s that fiscally responsible thingy goin’ for ya?

Better yet, before you start repealing our health care, I have one thing to say to the House GOP:

Repeal Your Own Health Care First!