Commentary: Cassidy, Fleming, Boustany Sound Off On One Year Anniversary Of ObamaCare’s Passage
Republican Congressmen Denounce Health Care Law, Vow To Repeal
To mark the one-year anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a delegation of Republican Louisiana Congressmen has publicly condemned the new health care law. Representatives Bill Cassidy, John Fleming, and Charles Boustany, all doctors, spoke out this week on the massive deficiencies and flaws of ObamaCare.
In a conference call Tuesday, Rep. Cassidy (R-Baton Rouge) joined Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), also a doctor, to discuss conservative efforts to repeal the law. Price went so far as to predict that the Supreme Court will declare ObamaCare unconstitutional in 2012.
Cassidy resisted a prediction, but he did concur that conservative efforts are gathering steam. He cited the House vote in January to repeal ObamaCare as evidence of the growing Congressional consensus for repeal, despite the rigid partisan voting of Democratic Senators.
“As our Democratic senator colleagues understand that more and more, we anticipate that they will move…toward a repeal-and-replace option,” Cassidy offered.
In separate remarks, Cassidy lambasted ObamaCare as “disastrous” and maintained that Republicans are working to “replace it with legislation which will expand access to affordable, quality health care, but in a way consistent with American values and which is fiscally sustainable.”
Likewise, Fleming astutely indicated that “even the Obama Administration recognizes the law is detrimental to America by granting over 1,000 waivers thus far from the very law it forced on hardworking Americans.” Rep. Boustany also commented on these waivers and vowed to “fully repeal it in the House… [and introduce] legislation to repeal the most burdensome provisions in the law and defund it entirely.”
The familiarity of this delegation with the nuances of the medical practice and the health insurance market is testament to the validity of their remarks. A “reform” law manufactured by career politicians and bureaucrats will inevitably fail to respond to the needs of the medical establishment.
Whether the prediction of a full repeal by 2012 is accurate or not is very uncertain. However, as long as we can be assured of the tireless efforts by our Representatives, we can remain optimistic that Congress will ultimately reverse this colossal mistake.