Today’s Politico Pulse reports that Republicans are floating the idea of repealing the Affordable Care Act by attaching the measure to must-pass legislation like next month’s extension of the doc fix:
Republicans are increasingly tossing around the idea of using the doc-fix as a vehicle for repeal legislation. “What happens if the SGR reform gets kicked to the middle of January or the next extension is short term?” Rep. Michael Burgess, chair of the Congressional Health Care Caucus, asked reporters Tuesday, on his way out from the American Action Forum’s health reform conference. “What if the next doc fix has with it a repeal of the individual mandate?” While the Senate is unlikely to pass such legislation, former CBO director Doug Holtz-Eakin, at the same conference, offered a slightly more plausible, albeit still challenged, version of the same maneuver: pay for the next-doc fix by using money allocated for health exchange subsidies, which would get rolled back a year. “You’re pushing back the subsidies and putting money back in Medicare where it belongs,” he said. “That’s a very effective budgetary strategy.”
This may all sound very simple, but it also highlights the tension in the GOP health care strategy — do they repeal the law in its entirety, as so-called repeal purists like Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and the Tea Party have argued — or, do they go after the bill piece by piece, likely undermining the chances of complete overhaul.
Republicans have said they will resort to the former since they probably won’t have enough support for the latter (especially with Obama in the White House) and are still going to great lengths to ensure that everybody knows that they’re still behind getting rid of the whole thing. After the Hill reported Tuesday morning that Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) “he supported keeping a few provisions in place, the pub updated its story to reflect that Cantor supports full repeal.” As the Pulse also points out, “Cantor’s office then blasted the back story and update to reporters, ensuring that there is no confusion. Republicans say they will address issues such as banning insurers from denying patients over pre-existing conditions in their own bill.”
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/12/01/repeal-docfix/
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