Apr 6, 2014

Republicans Obamacare Decision, "Repeal or Modify?"

The Affordable Healthcare Act, or the better-known name Obamacare, is now in full swing across the country.  People are already feeling the effects, both good and bad, and the impact is reaching Independents, Democrats and Republicans. 

Independents and others who have little claim for either major party have stood by watching to see the outcome.  They have cast their votes in the last election, signed up in some cases through the online sites, and sat back and waited.  None are really sure what the outcome of Obamacare is going to be.  In the end, they will side with whoever is the winner.

Democrats on the other hand have tried to distance themselves from the once, great reform their party embraced.  Naturally, they endorsed it with the intelligence of “we have to pass it to find out what’s in it”.  Sadly, that mentality is one of a docile state of pure fools who appear willing to pass anything their anointed leader bestows upon them while supposedly representing their people back home.  Now that everyone is reading it, Democrats are scrabbling to give extensions, waivers, and most importantly to distance themselves from this disastrous law.  The election season does not look good for Obamacare supporters.

Republicans for their part have continued the uphill battle of repeal.  With some Republicans fleeing to the Libertarian or other political parties, some calling themselves the Tea Party, and others simply throwing their hands up in disgust, the party seems more fractured than ever before.  Naturally, nobody in “Conservative Movement” seems to remember the Reform Party, and everybody seems to forget about the strength in numbers factor.  However, the one point we seem to be united on is the need to repeal Obamacare.  Unfortunately, repealing Obamacare could hand the Democrats the much-needed offensive weapon to wipe out Republican officials in 2016 and beyond. 

The fact is Obamacare is currently boasting sign up numbers of around six to seven million.  This is good news for President Obama because that means there are six to seven million potential voters who will feel beholden to the Democrats.  They will feel like it was Obama’s fight to get them healthcare.  Unfortunately, a Republican push to remove Obamacare would potentially mean that six to seven million voters would be without healthcare, a fact that would not go unnoticed by the Democrats.    For Republicans to demand and push for a complete repeal now, could essentially make the party appear as the ones denying healthcare.  Naturally, there are people who have lost their healthcare, lost their doctors and seen premiums skyrocket.  Those people would support the Republican cause….maybe.  Maybe, because by the time Republicans can repeal the law, those same people who lost their healthcare will now have new healthcare through Obamacare.  They will have adjusted to their new rates, new physicians, and new insurance companies.  They will once again be living normal lives when the Republicans repeal Obamacare and force them to start over again.  The interviews will appear on television and across the Internet and people will proclaim, “I finally had a doctor I like and a plan I could live with under Obamacare, and those idiot Republicans took it away from me!”  The Democrats will be fast to grab onto the same people who slammed them initially and carry their banner against the Monster Republicans who want to take healthcare away from deserving Americans. 

In the end, the Republican Party faces a decision.  It can fight Obamacare and eventually repeal it.  We’ve seen Prohibition repealed, and laws changed before so there is no reason not to believe that Obamacare can be repealed in the future.  The decision will become whether to repeal it, or modify it.  Republicans will have to unite and figure out the best action on Obamacare.  It can be modified, maybe it can be fixed, or it can be simply appealed with the hope that no major political backlash comes to the party.   

One thing is certain no matter what the party decides to do, it must do it with a united effort.  Republicans need the Tea Party – the Tea Party needs the Republicans and yes, as much as it may pain some Republicans, we need those Libertarians and others on our side too.  The bottom line is you have to have the numbers in votes.  Without the number in votes, Democrats will remain united and in 2016 there will be no repeal, or modification of Obamacare.  We will continue down this road with a law that Democrats so happily informed us with their blind, ignorance that “we have to pass it to find out what’s in it.”


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