The Affordable Care Act—ObamaCare—was passed more than three years ago. Deadlines for implementing it loom. Yet, as a nation, we’re still not really settled regarding this chaotic freedom grab.
The White House has had to postpone several deadlines, not the least of which is the one mandating that employers provide health insurance for their employees, or be fined. This is really at the heart of the legislation. Now there are protests that if companies get a pass next year, why not individuals?
The Administration also found it necessary to delay and alter the small business exchange. The verification process for receiving an ObamaCare subsidy had to be loosened considerably. Plus, the White House had to decide what to do with members of Congress and their staffs—gold standard health insurance has always been one of their perks. But, it’s written into ObamaCare that they must be part of it. The White House had to make the embarrassing call—taxpayers will foot health premiums for Congress and their staffs.
Sign-ups for the law’s most sweeping coverage programs are set to begin October 1st. But lots of people don’t know it. Though navigators are being trained, that effort is way behind.
ObamaCare needs millions of healthy young people to enroll to make the numbers work. To accomplish this, pro-ObamaCare events are taking place in communities across America. Volunteers from President Obama’s former campaign group, Organizing for America, are leafleting places like beaches, public restrooms, and farmers markets.
Meanwhile, tea party groups are promising street rallies and protests calling for the dismantling of ObamaCare. They’re focusing on public distrust of the Internal Revenue Service, which is supposed to shoulder a huge chunk of the implementation load. The House voted the IRS has to keep its hands off. That plan will go nowhere in the Senate.
In September, Congress will vote on what’s called a continuing resolution. In essence, with no appropriations bills yet passed, it’s a vote to continue funding the government. Some Republicans are going to make ObamaCare the issue in this vote.
The question is: Will funding for the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, be left out of the continuing resolution? Democrats and President Obama will, of course, oppose defunding ObamaCare. Republicans are divided on tying defunding to a vote funding the rest of government. Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio say the law is so unpopular it’s worth forcing a “government shutdown,” which really means some parts of the government will cease to operate as they do on the weekends.
Amidst the chaos and lawlessness involved in its implementation, ObamaCare is only getting less popular, even among Democrats. In 2010, when ObamaCare was signed into law, 74 percent of Democrats supported the law. Now that number is 46 percent.
The Senate ‘defundit gang’s’ plan is the best chance to unravel ObamaCare, before the country gets hooked on it.