Republican white flag suggests Obamacare here to stay
Could it be that Republicans in Congress are finally abandoning their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act?
“GOP congressional leaders, unable to roll back the law while President Obama remains in office and unwilling to again threaten a government shutdown to pressure him, are focused on other issues, including trade and tax reform,” noted the Los Angles Times in a recent report. “Less noted, senior Republican lawmakers have quietly incorporated many of the law’s key protections into their own proposals, including guaranteeing coverage and providing government assistance to help consumers purchase insurance.”
Yes, Sen. Ted Cruz and some other hard-right Republican presidential contenders will continue to run against the law, but in reality the fight appears over. The discussion will not turn to improving the law, which should have been the focus all along.
Obamacare is doing what it set out to do. More than 20 million people have insurance who might not have otherwise have had it, either through health care exchanges in which people find insurance through a government website, others through the Medicaid insurance program, expanded under Obamacare, at least in states like Connecticut that wisely participated.
Millions of other young people have insurance because they are now allowed to remain on their parents’ policies through age 26.
The ACA will prove a legacy achievement for President Obama.
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