Cruz, Lee, Rubio Right About ObamaCare

by / on January 6, 2017 at 7:40 am /
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)

In a letter to Senate Republican leaders, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked that H.R. 3762, which President Barack Obama vetoed in 2016, should be the bare minimum of what the Republican majorities of the House and Senate consider in 2017. That’s not asking too much.

H.R. 3762 got rid of Medicaid expansion, premium subsidies, cost-sharing subsidies, the individual and employer mandates, reinsurance, risk corridors and risk-adjustment, and the many taxes and spending from the health care law.

If that is the bill that is put on Donald Trump’s desk, it would be a monumental achievement.

If anybody has credibility on repealing Obamacare, it should be Cruz who filibustered funding for it in 2013, and Rubio and Lee, who joined him on the floor in support.

H.R. 3762 passed the House and Senate in 2015, and was vetoed by President Obama in 2016. Both chambers then failed to override the veto, but now there is a real opportunity to have that very same piece of legislation signed into law by President-elect Donald Trump when he assumes office later this month.

If it was good enough in 2016 for Obama to veto, it should be good enough to put on Trump’s desk to sign. Anything good enough for Lee, Rubio and Cruz is usually going to be good enough for Americans for Limited Government.

Woodrow Wilcox

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Republicans would be foolish not to get everything they could under budget reconciliation, including repealing Medicaid expansion. Lee, Rubio and Cruz are right.

If states want to do Medicaid expansion for those with incomes in the middle of the spectrum, the so-called doughnut hole, that’s their business. Federal taxpayers should not be compelled to subsidize it.

WoodrowWilcox.com

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The bottom line is this is an historic chance to keep a six-year-old Republican promise to repeal the guts of Obamacare and Republicans should not blink at this rare opportunity the American people have given to them to limit the size and scope of the government.

They should do no less than what they forced Obama to veto in 2016 and hopefully with the new majorities and the White House, they’ll do even more going forward, including allowing insurance to be sold across state lines.

So far the Senate has voted to proceed to S. Con. Res. 3, but so far, the text of the Obamacare repeal has not been brought forward. Time will tell if Republicans are able to keep their pledge to repeal the health care law, but if the Senate follows Lee, Rubio and Cruz’ principles laid out in their letter, this could end up being something the American people can be very pleased with.

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Robert Romano is the Senior Editor of Americans for Limited Government (ALG) News Bureau. Americans for Limited Government is a non- partisan, nationwide network committed to advancing free market reforms,private property rights and core American liberties.
Robert Romano
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  • Thisoldspouse

    I still can’t get over how many Trump supporters bad-mouthed Cruz with such obscenity, they sounded like the most radical leftists.

    • Yep. If this pathetic election accomplished one thing (because it sure didn’t accomplish much), it was in separating the sheep from the goats, i.e. the conservatives from the fake “conservatives.” Turns out I have a lot fewer conservative allies than I ever dreamed.

      • Thisoldspouse

        Are you getting the feeling that Obama(couldn’t)Care(less) isn’t really going to be repealed, rolled back or even tweaked substantially? I can already hear that can being kicked down the road, past the next mid-term election, when the demoralcrats have a good chance of recapturing either or both Houses of Congress with the treacherous duplicity of the GOP on full display.

        I may not vote for them either.

        • Based on our gutless and liberal “Republican” congress, and our newly elected “Republican” president who has told us repeatedly that he admires the socialist health care systems of other nations and that the federal government should pay for everyone’s health care, I’ll believe a real repeal of ObamaCare when I see it.

  • Edward MacGuire

    Some inconvenient facts:

    The U.S. is the only developed country without universal health care.

    The U.S. spends $8,233 on health per person. The average spending on health care among the other 33 developed OECD countries was $3,268 per person. ( 2012 number OECD ).

    The U.S. spends 17% of GDP on healthcare; Next highest is France at 11%. By some measures, France has the best healthcare system in the world.

    By OECD measures, the U.S. ranks 11th in health care outcomes I.e. infant mortality, life expectancy etc.

    Despite spending more on health care, Americans had poor health outcomes, including shorter life expectancy and greater prevalence of chronic conditions. ( Commonwealth Fund 2013 ).

    • Some inconvenient facts (for Leftists):

      The U.S. has been for the majority of its 241 year history been the world leader in freedom, prosperity and innovation. That might have something to do with why it is the only developed country without a wealth redistribution system like “universal health care.”

      Most of the innovation and progress in health care has come from the United States. That might have something to do with why the U.S. spends so much on health care. That, and the fact that many of us have misused our freedom to live lifestyles that have a health cost.

      The United States also has a constitution which prohibits the federal government from creating or running a health care system, a system of charity, or a wealth redistribution system. In other words, a “universal health care system” is illegal in the United States.

      I have lived for several years under a “universal health care” system in the United Kingdom. I wouldn’t wish such an inept piece of garbage on my worst enemy. Certainly not upon the greatest, most free nation on earth.

      • Edward MacGuire

        The U.S. is by far the largest military and economic force on the planet, as well as the richest country by far. It also incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world, has by far a higher incidence of violent crime, and ranks well down in ‘freedom’ and social mobility. It also has the highest income disparity of any developed nation.

        Since the U.S. spends twice as much on healthcare as any other nation and gets poorer outcomes, it is obviously the American implementation of health care that is the problem.

        The government has a duty to ‘promote the general welfare’ which would include universal health care.

        All healthcare systems, including that of the U.K., have issues. Since the health outcomes for the British National Health Service are better than that of the U.S. medical system they cannot be that inept.

        • Yes, the United States bears the bulk of the burden of keeping evil at bay in the world. We really don’t have extra money to throw away on things people should be doing for themselves (e.g. health care). The U.S. also incarcerates a lot of people, in no small measure because as I mentioned previously, a lot of people here misuse their freedom and break the law. Breaking the law has consequences.

          That problem of misused freedom stems in no small measure from the promotion of lawlessness by the socialist Left which wants to hold no one accountable for their actions. That is another facet of socialized health care; you live however you want, even in unhealthy ways, and expect others to subsidize your bad behavior. That is one of the many reasons why socialized health care is unfair, counterproductive, and just plain wrong.

          And no, the federal government has no authority to establish or run a system of charity or a health care system, not under the auspices of “general welfare” or anything else. The founders of this nation, many of whom also helped write the U.S. Constitution made this very clear.

          – A wise and frugal government…shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. – Thomas Jefferson

          – To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. — Thomas Jefferson

          – Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated. – Thomas Jefferson

          – The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” — John Adams

          – [Congressional jurisdiction of power] is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any.” – James Madison

          – The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined…to be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce.” – James Madison

          – With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. – James Madison

          – I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents. – James Madison

          – Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. – James Madison

          – The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. – James Madison, Federalist No. 45

          You want to legally force one person to pay for goods and services consumed by another person (which is what socialized health care is; forcing a person to work for goods and services consumed by another person is also known as slavery), then pass a constitutional amendment. But liberals never want to attempt the socialized takeover of health care in a lawful manner. They know the American people won’t stand for that garbage if it’s tried out in the open.

          Finally, I lived in the UK for three years, and I know what a piece of excrement their government health care system is. It sucked back then (I didn’t know a single Brit who liked the NHS), and it has only gotten worse.

          I could provide hundreds if not thousands of examples, but here are just a few recent ones:

          http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4096538/Worst-NHS-week-15-years-Elderly-patient-dies-35hr-wait-hospital-trolley-besieged-Es-shut-doors-42-times-leaving-nurses-tears.html

          http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4128272/Shambolic-NHS-trust-blamed-two-deaths.html

          http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4117030/A-E-crisis-Four-10-NHS-hospitals-declared-major-alert-E-departments-amid-mounting-pressure.html

          http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4112300/Doctors-forced-decide-saving-cancer-patient-pensioner-bleeding-death-heartbreaking-new-documentary-revealing-agony-NHS-crisis.html

          The Canadian system is hardly better. There’s a whole health care tourism industry of Canadians coming south to get treatment in the pseudo-free market system they can’t get under their own socialist system.

          Speaking of Canadians, I see from your IP address that you are a Canadian. We have enough idiot socialists in our own country advocating for our demise without foreign socialists interjecting themselves into our national conversation advocating the same, so you’re done here. If you had any sense, you’d advocate for a return to the fully free market system here in the United States, so you’d have somewhere to go when you need care your own pathetic system can’t supply.

    • Thisoldspouse

      How does your first “fact” jive with your second and third “fact?” Your assertion is surreal.

      • Edward MacGuire

        You don’t know that governments in the U.S.subsidize health care!?

        Now that is surreal.