Repealing Obamacare is not enough

[Valin]

Washington Examiner:

Philip Klein

January 12, 2015

 

For nearly five years, Republicans have been fighting to repeal President Obama’s healthcare law.

 

But repeal is not enough.

 

Even if simple repeal were politically obtainable, Americans would still be left with a broken healthcare system. Government regulations would still be stifling competition and individual choice and government healthcare programs would still be driving the nation’s unsustainable long-term debt problem.

 

If Republicans achieved repeal without agreeing on a way to reform healthcare along free market lines, it’s inevitable that Democrats would eventually lead another overhaul of the system that would grant even more power to the federal government than the Affordable Care Act does. This would gradually morph the system into a full single-payer program.

 

Republicans have been unable to unite around an alternative approach on healthcare so far. But this year, there are several factors that could force their hand.

(Snip)

 

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Overcoming Obamacare: Three Approaches to Reversing the Government Takeover of Health Care Paperback – January 6, 2015

Philip Klein

 

Opposition to Obamacare is stronger than ever, but critics of the law will need to unite around an alternative if they want to move the nation’s health care system in a free market direction. In Overcoming Obamacare, the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein, one of the leading conservative health care writers, takes readers inside the fierce debate on the right on how to overhaul the health care system in the wake of Obamacare. Drawing on eight years of experience reporting on the issue, dozens of interviews with prominent health policy experts, and conversations with Republican political leaders including Bobby Jindal and Paul Ryan, Klein articulates a free market vision for health care and presents three competing paths to getting there. Whether you’re a conservative fighting to repeal Obamacare or a liberal wondering how Republicans may go about unraveling it, this book is a must read.