This week in Congress and Budget and ObamaCare update

By repealing a small number of Obamacare mandates, while leaving others in place, this bill runs the risk of destroying what remains of the individual health insurance market. The option in this bill that allows States to apply for waivers from some Obamacare mandates is well-intentioned. However, it falls far short of our promise to repeal Obamacare. There also remains the risk that State legislatures, like our federal legislature, are unable to withstand the political pressure from lobbyists who defend Obamacare, and the pressure from those who receive Obamacare’s welfare handouts. This bill should have included measures that allow Americans to take charge of their own healthcare and get the government out of the way. These measures include allowing the deduction of health insurance costs from income taxes, giving everyone the ability to purchase insurance across state lines, and allowing individuals to band together through any organization to purchase insurance. In weighing my vote, I heeded the wise advice that “one should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” If this bill becomes law, it could result in worse outcomes, fewer options, and higher prices for Kentuckians who seek health care. In summary, I voted against this bill not because it’s imperfect, but because it’s not good.

ObamaCare repeal retention had just passed the House when the Senate announced they were not voting on it. Instead, there is a 12-member “task force” of Senators working to draft an ObamaCare repeal and replace plan. Senator Rand Paul is not part of the task force, even though he is a doctor and has put forth a true free-market alternative to Obamacare. Shortly after the House passed its bill, there was a lot of handwringing from the usual sources about how the bill would damage Americans by restoring a free-market in health care. Of course, this is ridiculous for two reasons. One, this bill in no way returns us to a free-market — it doesn’t even repeal ObamaCare (and most of the GOP’s defenses of the bill have been to point out how their plan retains ObamaCare’s core mandates). Two, America did not have a free-market health care system before ObamaCare. In fact, the problems that justified ObamaCare were the result of prior government interventions.