Wahoo! Repeal and Replace Has Arrived!
Well, it seems a judge in Texas has ruled the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, unconstitutional, on the grounds that the law cannot stand without its key component, the individual mandate, which was deleted from the ACA by the Republican-led Congress last year. This will be hailed for about thirty seconds as a great day for American liberty and quality healthcare — until the combination of John Roberts’ Supreme Court and Mitch McConnell’s GOP get at it, at which point the celebrations will promptly, and properly, end.
If you do not understand why Roberts is a problem, I refer you to what I wrote about his most famous kick at healthcare at American Thinker in 2012. The bigger problem, however, remains the Republican Party, and that not only includes but positively features Mr. Swamp-Drain Himself, the Orange McConnell, Donald Trump.
Here is Trump’s immediate response to the ruling:
As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster! Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2018
Trump, who personally favors socialized medicine, campaigned through the primaries and general election on the old McConnell-Boehner slogan “Repeal and Replace.” In his response to this new ruling, he expressly directs “Mitch and Nancy” to “pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions.”
Voilà! Repeal and Replace. A new, “STRONG law” — i.e., a robust federal regulatory machine — mandating “GREAT healthcare” for everyone, and forcing private insurance companies to offer specific services to specific types of customers. (A little secret from one who has lived much of his life in a fully socialized system: Laws don’t provide healthcare; they destroy it.)
In other words, the usual GOP fake liberty answer: “Free market solutions,” where for “free market” you must read “heavily government-regulated-and-manipulated market.”
Hooray! It’s a great day for moving deck chairs on sinking ships!
As the wise have been saying for years, “If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait until it’s free.”
