Obamacare Re Dux

The following letter to the editor was submitted to The Daily World on July 9 in response to several letters on Obamacare.  It has yet to appear in print.  Ditto letters from Bruce Daniels on the topic:

Congratulations to Richard Kivi, et.al. for trotting out White House talking points on the alleged toys and trinkets in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

MIA from the OR-chestrated list: 83% of doctors surveyed saying they may quit if Obamacare is fully implemented (Doctor Patient Medical Association Foundation, June 2012).  Or the 78 health care bills Republicans introduced in the 111th Congress, most of which Pelosi and Company refused to consider, including:

- H.R. 3400, the Empowering Patients First Act, which increases patients' control over health care decisions by offering more choices and the highest quality available.

- H.R. 4985, the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act of 2010, repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board enacted under the Democrat health care package.  The IPAB gives unelected bureaucrats the authority to determine what benefits are covered and how much physicians are paid.

- H.R. 4982, the Close the Congressional Health Care Loophole Act, ensuring that all Legislative Branch employees enroll in the new healthcare exchanges, thus treating all Legislative Branch employees the same. 

- H.R. 4999, the Reclaiming Individual Liberty Act, eliminating Section 5000A of the PPACA and repealing the individual health insurance mandate.

- H.R. 5421, providing individuals with the same tax advantages that businesses have, allowing you to deduct 100% of all health care expenses from your taxes, including insurance.  Also offers high risk insurance pools to those with pre-existing conditions and expands choice and competition by allowing individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines.

Almost none of these or any other fiscally responsible, patient-centered solutions offered by Republicans were considered in committee or on the House floor by the-then Democrat majority before it passed  the PPACA.

Don't forget the legislatures of more than three-fourths of all the states, including Washington, that proposed legislation reaffirming their 10th amendment rights trampled by Obamacare.  Also the 26 state Attorneys General, including Washington, that filed suit challenging Congress' authority to force citizens to buy health insurance, arguing that the individual mandate isn't about health, it's about the unrestricted expansion of the federal government.

What's that again about toys and trinkets?