Peter Roff writes for U.S. News that even Obamacare‘s staunchest supporters are beginning to realize that the federal health care law never will be enacted as originally designed.
Even though there is plenty of polling data showing the American people do not support Obamacare in its current form and would like to see it repealed or fundamentally altered, it is the proponents of the gradualist approach that seem to slowly be winning the argument. The reason for this is simple: They have the president on their side.
Not intentionally of course. The president still stands squarely behind his singular – perhaps even his only – legislative accomplishment of any substance. The sad fact is however that his team has made such a hash of the implementation phase of Obamacare that “delay” is already a reality.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the Obama administration has missed nearly half the statutory implementation deadlines – and not in the way the new kitchen is not ready on the date the contractor promised it would be. The dates that have been missed were set in law – a fact which presents an interesting problem for the White House should anyone choose to pursue it.
Nevertheless, with the administration already in the “delay” phase it seems only natural that Congress should follow along, the difference being the Democrats want to “delay” until they get it right while the Republicans want the “delay” in order to get something else. …
… It is a given that things will not remain as they are. It is highly unlikely that the new law will ever be fully implemented as its authors and the White House intended. Even Warren Buffett, the “Oracle of Omaha” and one of the president’s best billionaire buddies and staunchest defenders seems to be climbing on the do-over bandwagon.
In between “delay” and “do-over,” is “dismantle,” taking the new law apart piece by piece in order to accelerate its collapse under its own weight. The Obamacare advocates who say the public will never go for repeal if it means losing the goodies that are being bestowed upon them are probably right. This means the opponents of the new law have to act in such a way as to force hard choices above and beyond the hard choices that reality is already hitting them with. The premium increases, layoffs, and conversion of full time jobs into part time jobs are not coincidental; they are a direct result of the costs Obamacare is already imposing on private insurance and on employers.
