Obamacare Is at a Critical Crossroads

Some things were just never meant to be -- Rome forever resisting the teutonic tribes, Napoleon taking Moscow, Germany winning World War II, Obamacare succeeding. ~~~~~ Today, the US House of Representatives' Republican majority decided to move ahead to a vote on delaying key components of President Barack Obama's signature health care law. The House GOP was encouraged by the administration's concession that requiring companies to provide coverage for their workers next year may be too complicated. Republicans took control of the House in January 2011 in the midst of public anger and skepticism over the law adopted in 2010 by a Congress controlled - both House and Senate - by the Democrats. The House knows that its bill will die in the Democratic-controlled Senate and the administration is emphatic that the President would veto any such bill presented to him. But Obama's abrupt decision earlier this month to delay for one year, until after the 2014 elections, the requirement that businesses with 50 or more employees provide health coverage for their workers or pay a penalty has led Republicans to insist that the President cannot unilaterally decide to enforce only portions of Obamacare. They plan votes on one bill that would essentially codify the administration's plan, as well as a second bill that provides a similar grace period for individual Americans, because the GOP says that if imposing Obamacare is too much for the employer community, basic fairness for American families and individuals means that Obamacare be dayed for them, too, according to remarks made by House Speaker John Boehner at a news conference. Democrats insist it is all political theater and another attempt by the GOP to undermine the law. Joe Crowley, a Democrat House member, said Republicans weren't simply trying to delay the requirements. "It is their intention to destroy the Affordable Care Act ... to do away with it, to annihilate it entirely," Crowley said. In a surprise move earlier this month, the Obama administration announced a one-year delay in the employer mandate, citing a need for more time to implement the requirement effectively. Republicans saw that decision as new evidence that Obamacare is unworkable and should be repealed. The GOP also accused a Democratic President of favoring businesses over average Americans, who will still be required to carry health insurance starting next January 1, or risk fines. The House is considering a set of two bills - one to implement the president's one-year delay in the employer mandate, and another to delay the individual mandate. Commenting on the two House bills, the White House, in a statement vowing a veto, that : "it's time for the Congress to stop fighting old political battles and join the president" in boosting the economy and helping the middle class. National Republican Congressional releases answered the President by calling on Democratic incumbents to vote for a delay in the individual mandate, posing the question "Big business got a break from Obamacare, but what about families?" In other Obamacare-related actions : (1). The Obama administration has eliminated the provision requiring individuals to prove to the IRS that they qualify for assistance in paying for their Obamacare costs. Instead, individuals will simply certify that they qualify for assistance. (2). Labor unions, big financial supporters of President Obama who worked actively to get Congress to pass Obamacare, are beginning to see a difficult road ahead in trying to implement Obamacare's mandated health care provisions. (3). The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the administration's delay of the employer mandate, questioning J. Mark Iwry, a Treasury Department official and top adviser on health policy. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Obamacare was enacted by a Democratic Congress that had insufficient time to read its 2,000 pages. It faced administrative delays because of the impossible task of coordinatibg its complex overall scheme. It has consistently been rejected by half the American public. The GOP House has refused funding for some aspects of its implementation. In the face of all these problems, Obama pushed on instead of seeking compromise. The result is a creeping collapse of Obamacare. It is time to address the real issue - the search for cost-effective health care for uninsured Americans. It is time to let the health care system work for the 80% of Americans who already have health care coverage that they find good and functional. It is time for the President and Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to come to the negotiating table and prove that they care more about health care for Americans who need it than they care about beating Republicans into submission.