Should the ‘Train Wreck’ be Defunded?

The Affordable Healthcare Act of 2009, also known as Obamacare, has become more unpopular as it is being fully rolled out and Americans finally realize what is in the law and the impacts:

• Despite the name of the law, healthcare costs have soared in part directly due to the law and the costs are forecasted to continue to soar.

• On January 1, 2014, the IRS will soon be forcing individuals to purchase health insurance plans defined by Washington D.C. bureaucrats.

• The Obama Administration gave a reprieve to businesses by pushing their mandate out by one year to provide health insurance to employees. This isn’t fair to mainstreet Americans who won’t be getting this relief.

• As part of the law, starting on October 1 the Federal government will collect and store very sensitive information on Americans such as medical records, income, and social security numbers. The testing of the data security of this massive database is months behind which opens a real risk for hackers to steal this data.

• Americans are losing their existing doctors either due to them no longer accepting Medicare and Medicaid, or they are leaving the practice altogether.

• In April, Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, prognosticated on Obamacare: “I just see a huge train wreck coming down.”

Polls show that a majority of Americans disapprove of Obamacare and the percentage that wants it repealed is at all time highs. Labor unions, who were originally big supporters of the law, now want it repealed.  And Congress is getting a ‘waiver’ from the Obama administration from the law – Obamacare is good enough for the people, but not good enough for the ruling class.

In the upcoming government spending bill, called a Continuing Resolution, some Republicans don’t want to provide money to continue to implement Obamacare because of all the issues. Why continue to implement a program that is already failing and deeply unpopular? An argument against this position is that it could indirectly lead to a temporary stop of other federal government functions: President Obama may choose to shut down the government instead of signing a bill that would not fund Obamacare. Another argument is that the failure of Obamacare could be blamed on Republicans if they don’t fund it – instead, ensure that Obama and the Democrats can’t dodge the fallout.

So the conundrum for Republicans is should they stand on principles and slow down Obamacare, or do they let the ‘train wreck’ continue to unfold and avoid any risk of being blamed for a government shutdown or failure of the law.