Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute wrote a brief article recommending four ways to defund Abomicare. I call it 665.5 because, in addition to its use of force, expectations for penalties after the first year make it sound like conscientious objectors who opt out won’t have enough left to “be able to buy or sell without it.”
More constructively, Cannon asks opponents of the law to stop bickering and get to work. The first strategy is to continue to encourage states to refuse Medicaid expansions. The second encourages legally challenging violations of a nuance that authorizes subsidies only to state, not federal, exchanges. Thirdly, since subsidies for federal exchanges are illegal, states have the power to suspend the licenses of insurers who accept them. And fourth, since IRS representatives have been evasive of House investigators’ requests for explication, Cannon would like to see public demand for follow-through with House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chair Darrell Issa’s threat:
Not only will I issue a subpoena, but I’m going to have to do a lot more.
