The Ayes Have It!

While President Obama was busy impressing the Chinese delegation, the Republicans in the House of Representatives were busy keeping their promise to the American people and calling for a vote to Repeal Obamacare.  We fear that repealing that monstrosity in its entirety will be an extremely difficult task.  Not only do they have Harry Reid in the Senate threatening not to bring the bill up for a vote, but we also have Obama, pen in hand, waiting to veto any measures that will obliterate his brainchild.  Healthcare reform was after all going to be his presidential legacy.

What Obama and all the Democrats who force that legislation through did not consider was the fact that their actions awakened a sleeping giant.  The majority of Americans do not want Obamacare, although it does sadden us to learn that some gullible citizens are being bamboozled by the Democratic Propaganda Machine, backed of course, by their wealthy contributors whose fat wallets make it possible for them to never have a need to worry about how they will pay for their healthcare.

Today was a historic day because it proved that elections do matter, and that those elected really listened to the wishes of the American people.  We believe that in spite of the odds, there is a very strong opportunity here to strip from that bill all the measures that make it unsustainable, and to do so in a bipartisan manner, without the bribery, coercion , and behind closed doors meetings that were initially employed to force those who in reality opposed Obamacare to vote for it.

Two Sisters From The Right join with Generation America Advocacy in their statement that this is the single most pressing issue the over-50 generation faces today. We are advocating in favor of a free-market health care system where individuals have the freedom to determine the level of healthcare they want, the doctors they want, the medicines and treatments they want and make their own end-of-life decisions.  Those of us who are seniors and carefully planned for our future so that we would never be dependent on our children, do not want the government interfering in our lives.  Even more, we don't want our children and grandchildren left saddled with debts incurred by the government, that would burden their future lives.

So, it is with gratitude that we applaud the members of the House of Representatives who voted "Aye" to repeal Obamacare.  It was indeed a good day in the House today!

The House Votes to Repeal ObamaCare
by Jeffrey H. Anderson


Reflecting the clear and strongly held views of the vast majority of Americans, the House has voted overwhelmingly to repeal ObamaCare.

Last March, the House voted to pass ObamaCare by a tally of 219 to 212 -- a margin of 7 votes; today it voted to repeal ObamaCare by a tally of 245 to 189 -- a margin of 56 votes. Ten months ago, the vote was 51 percent to 49 percent -- a margin of 2 percentage points; today it was 56 percent to 44 percent -- a margin of 12 percentage points. So the margin for repeal was 49 votes and 10 percentage points bigger than the margin for passage.
 
Many have described this as being merely a symbolic vote. But, in truth, the 112th House will never pass a more important bill. It seems quite strange, moreover, that anyone would ever call legislation to repeal a 2,700-page law, which also happens to be the President's centerpiece initiative, anything other than substantive.
 
Now the repeal bill will advance to the Democratic Senate, where senators will have the chance to respond to the people's will by voting yes, voting no, or refusing even to hold a vote. Their choice, too, will be substantive -- and will say a lot about the current composition of that body.
 
But before transferring our thoughts too much to the Senate, let us take a moment to appreciate what has happened today in the House: Less than ten months after ObamaCare's passage, the repeal movement has notched its first legislative victory!
© Copyright 2011 The Weekly Standard LLC

CHANGE IT BACK

The problem that most troubles Americans at the present time is the economy.  As long as people are not going back to work there will not be any chance to recover from this financial crisis. Another great concern is the size of government, and too much government control in our lives.  As much as we detest ObamaCare, and wish to see its repeal, we have to face the fact that the task that the new GOP House have set for themselves is not an easy one. 

Back when the Democratic majority was ramming ObamaCare down our throats,  Nancy Pelosi said something to the effect that "we must pass the bill to know what is in it."  We all scoffed, and we were angry that they were passing a 2,000 page bill that few, if any, had bothered to read.  Our question  now is, have WE read the entire bill?  Do WE know the complexities of repealing it?  How do we feel about the issue of unemployment vs repeal?

Yes, ObamaCare, as it is written, must either be completely changed or repealed.  We've already begun to feel it's adverse effects, it's constraints on our pocketbook.  But, a wise voter is well informed.  Let us take the time to read what conservative experts have to say on the issue.  We don't want to rush into a drastic move that will leave the GOP with egg on its face.  What we need from this 112th Congress is incremental successes.  Do the doable.  Set the stage for a huge GOP victory in 2012.


We advice that all read Paul Ryan's Road Map for America.  A lot of the footwork has already been done.  If we fail in the next two years, we will not succeed in 2012.  By reading some of the comments to articles we've red, we have the feeling that many of our fellow conservatives believe that repealing Obama care is as simple as 1, 2, 3.  We would like to see the new Republican congress undo much of what the Obama administration has done. Change it back! 

The new Congress started out on the right foot today by giving the Constitution of the United States its rightful place by having it read.    As they were sworn in, the new Congress took an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States.  That is an Oath Liberals took and now seem to have forgotten.  Our newly elected officials, the Speaker, and the Majority Whip, have a long road to haul ahead of them.  The must get Americans back to work, cut back spending, give control back to the states and the people, and begin to repeal that outrage they call a health care bill.


Below is a very thoughtful explanation on how to approach the ending of ObamaCare. It is one step in taking our country back, but it is not the only one.   Please take the time to read it.

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE

Obamacare: The End of the Beginning
by Avik Roy
January 5, 2011 4:00 A.M.

For the foreseeable future, health care must be the dominant focus of conservative domestic policy.
Sixty-eight years ago, after a long-sought victory in Egypt that marked a turning point in World War II, Winston Churchill said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”


In what will be a long and arduous struggle to bring fiscal stability and true reform to our tottering health-care system, partial Republican control of Congress was a necessary first step. But, now, the hard work begins.


The Republican health-care platform, such as it is, is pretty simple: Repeal Obamacare and replace it with incremental, common-sense, politically popular reforms. The GOP’s “Pledge to America” may therefore have been an appropriate platform for a midterm election. However, the document barely begins to address the profound and difficult issues that any serious government must. Indeed, if the early signals are any indication, the troubling reality is that the Republican health-care agenda for 2011 and 2012 may actually make it harder to repeal Obamacare in 2013, and thereby harder to achieve conservatives’ long-term goal of a humane, efficient, and fiscally sustainable health-care system.

The best way to grasp the enormous difficulties ahead is to work backwards.


Runaway growth in government spending is America’s biggest fiscal problem today. Growth in Medicare and Medicaid spending, in turn, accounts for nearly all the projected future growth in government outlays relative to GDP. If the principal domestic-policy goal of conservatives is to restore the country to a truly limited government that can live within its means, we can achieve that goal only through serious and thoughtful reform of health-care entitlements.

That is to say: For the foreseeable future, health care must become the single dominant focus of conservative domestic policy.


Hence, our first and most important problem is intellectual. Conservatives speak often of repealing and replacing Obamacare. But how many can articulate a conservative vision of what our health-care system should look like? Leading Republican politicians have plenty of detailed opinions on a broad range of subjects. But does anyone know what John Boehner’s vision is for the future of American health care? How about the main contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination? To ask the question is to answer it.


FREEDOM, SECURITY, AND INNOVATION
It should be said that, within the diminutive circle of conservative health-policy wonks, there is a fair amount of agreement as to where we should go. But translating that wonkery into plain English isn’t easy.


Among less specialized conservatives, a common refrain is, “I’m not clear on the details, but that Paul Ryan sounds like he knows what he’s talking about.” And Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan is indeed a solid start. But unless other Republican leaders fully immerse themselves in health-care policy, they will be able neither to articulate the core principles of free-market health care, nor to address new issues as they arise, nor to persuade American voters that they should be trusted to enact far-reaching reforms.


The core health-care principles that Republicans should embrace can be summarized in three words: freedom, security, and innovation.

First, the conservative vision must, out of both principle and pragmatism, hold that the best health-care system is one that trusts individuals to make the choices that are best for them and their families. The liberal view of health care is the opposite: that individuals are neither knowledgeable enough nor wise enough to make health-care decisions for themselves; instead, these decisions are best left to unelected government experts.

Second, conservatives must stand firmly behind the principle of a safety net for those who are genuinely down on their luck, and also for the principle that those who pay for insurance and play by the rules will get the care that they’ve earned, without losing out on technicalities. Liberals might agree rhetorically with these principles, but they use them as a pretext for expanding the entitlement state, with destructive effects: extension of government insurance to those who don’t need it, at a cost the country can’t afford, and strangulation of private insurers with onerous regulations that the market can’t sustain.

Third, conservatives must always keep in mind that the entire point of health care is to extend and enhance life. Thus their vision can include, but must be broader than, the hot-button issues of abortion and stem-cell research. A pro-life health-care policy involves accelerating the pace of medical innovation, by reducing the regulatory and financial burdens we place on the pharmaceutical and medical-device industries. That means strengthening the influence of market forces, as opposed to subsidies and price controls, on the development of drugs and devices. It also means streamlining the FDA so that innovative new therapies can reach the market more quickly and cheaply. It means minimizing, and if possible eliminating, the ability of federal bureaucrats to deny life-extending care.

Liberals, on the other hand, tend to look askance at medical innovation. Most progressive health-care economists blame new medical technologies for rising health-care costs: costs that can, in their view, be lowered only by restricting patients’ access to those technologies. In addition, new drugs and medical technologies are developed by private companies, for profit: a concept to which many on the Left are instinctively hostile.

Health-care policy is exceedingly complex, and translating these basic principles of freedom, security, and innovation into actual legislation will not be easy. Doing so must start with three policy goals.

First, Republicans must foster a truly free market for health insurance by eliminating the differing tax treatment of employer-sponsored and individually purchased insurance. Second, Republicans must make dramatic improvements to Medicaid, using Mitch Daniels’s impressive reforms in Indiana as a template. Third, Republicans must move Medicare onto a sustainable path that puts financial control in the hands of seniors themselves rather than central planners.

On all three fronts, Obamacare moves us in exactly the opposite direction. The law will force employers to provide insurance for their employees, instead of allowing them to leave that money in their employees’ paychecks so that they can buy insurance for themselves. The law will dramatically expand Medicaid in ways that will accelerate the pending bankruptcy of several large states, even though Medicaid provides far worse care than people can obtain on their own. And the law will effectively eliminate Medicare Advantage and other programs that helped move Medicare from its traditional single-payer approach into a more market-oriented one.

THE OBAMACARE TRAP
And so, it remains true that the most critical task for Republicans in the 112th Congress is to lay the groundwork for the ultimate repeal of Obamacare. Given that House Republicans don’t have the power to repeal the law by themselves, what can they do in the meantime? More importantly, what should they do in the meantime? The question has been asked, but it hasn’t been adequately answered.

We must remind ourselves of the electoral realities. For Republicans to succeed in repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), they will need to control the House, the Senate, and the White House. From a political standpoint, if Republicans are not able to achieve this in 2012, they are unlikely ever to repeal Obamacare.

Read the rest of the article here>>

— Avik Roy is an equity research analyst at Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. in New York City. He blogs on health-care issues at The Apothecary.