No More Reasons Why Congress Can’t Totally Repeal Obamacare
Repeal Obamacare, Don’t Replace It.
Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare after assuming control of the White House as well as Congress registered strongly with our audience in recent days. The day after President Trump’s 100th day in office, today’s mailbag leads off with two related letters, one signed by 17 GOP and grassroots activists in Pennsylvania.—Ken McIntyre
Since it was enacted into law in 2010, most Americans have opposed the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. In elections since then, Republicans have campaigned on the promise of total repeal of Obamacare. We, political constituents and grassroots supporters, responded by giving Republicans the House, then the Senate, and, in 2016, the presidency.
There are no more reasons why Congress cannot totally repeal Obamacare (“What’s in the New Obamacare Deal That Could Unite Conservatives, Centrists”).
The new American Health Care Act, as it stands now, is not Obamacare repeal. Most Americans agree, given that only 17 percent support the bill, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.
We ask nothing more than our legislators honor their campaign promises to repeal Obamacare.
Repeal means dismantling the Title I regulatory structure in the legislation that has caused insurance premiums to skyrocket, swelled Medicaid rolls and inserted the federal government between patients and our doctors. The 2015 repeal bill, which passed both the House and Senate, is a starting point for repealing Obamacare.
Replace means implementing free market solutions, eliminating taxpayer-funded abortions, and returning to patient-centered health care.
The House Freedom Caucus is not the problem. They are attempting to honor what the Republican Party has promised its supporters since 2010.
We, the undersigned, represent local grassroots groups whose members are your readers. We now ask that promises to us are honored: Congress must repeal Obamacare, then replace it. No more excuses.—Betty Dunkel-Hernon, for Valley Forge Patriots Republican Committee, Schuylkill Township, Pa.
Also signing: Lucy Tscherne, Valley Forge Patriots; Linda Hertzog, West Chester Tea Party; Lisa Esler, Delaware County Patriots; Jane Marie Toal, Citizens for Liberty; Don Reimer, Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots; Larry Denver, president, Faith & Freedom Coalition, Pa.; Charles Beatty, vice president, Faith & Freedom Coalition, Pa.; Susan Hancock, Smart Girl Politics; Donna Ellingsen, Republican Committee, Elk Township; Linda Cleaver, Republican Committee, Londonderry Township; Marsha Spencer, Republican Committee, Lower Oxford West; Margaret Layden, Republican Committee, Tredyffrin M-6; Barbara Albright, Republican Committee, West Bradford 4; Beckie Laughlin, Republican Committee, Valley North 635; Jane E. Brown, Landenberg, Pa.; Rita Misero, Coatesville, Pa.
Editor’s note: The above letter arrived April 24, before House conservatives announced support for new revisions of the health care bill.
