Grace-Marie Turner, the founder and president of the Galen Institute, a think-tank 'advancing free-market ideas in health policy,' writes in Forbes that...
...the ObamaCare Resistance Movement has begun. Some examples:
Congress: “ObamaCare has to go,” wrote House Speaker John Boehner. He said, “There are essentially three major routes to repeal of the president’s law: the courts, the presidential election process and the congressional oversight process. With two of those three routes having come up short, the third and final one becomes more important than ever.” He pledged “vigorous oversight” and said House committees are already conducting investigations of possible improper spending.
What's new about that? Sounds like wishful thinking for a last-ditch effort by the party of no, not part of the birth of a new resistance movement.
Besides, Boehner has since admitted that, 'ObamaCare is the law of the land.'
Turner then turns to the states:
Governors: The health law relies on states to expand insurance coverage through Medicaid and to set up bureaucracies, called exchanges, through which new health insurance subsidies will be distributed...
...At least 21 states have said they definitely or probably will not set up state exchanges, with Ohio, Wisconsin, Maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, Georgia and Indiana most recently joining the opposition.
What difference does that make? The U.S. Health and Human Services Department will set up federal health insurance exchanges by 2014 in U.S. states that fail to establish their own:
"That means federal officials could be calling the shots on some insurance issues that states traditionally manage, from handling consumer complaints to regulating plans that will serve many citizens.
" 'You're kind of rolling the dice if you think (Obama's health care law) will go away,' said Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, a Republican."
Rolling the dice with health care -- just like the Republican party wants individuals to do.
Next Turner writes about what companies are supposedly doing:
Businesses: Companies with more than 50 employees are searching for ways to avoid the penalties for not complying with the law’s employer mandate. They must either provide government-approved health insurance or pay a fine of $2,000 for each full-time worker. But companies can escape the fines if they make the painful decision to cut workers to part-time – defined in the law as less than 30 hours a week.
Yes, and we've seen how successful that has been: Papa John’s, Denny’s, Applebees brands suffer after Obamacare criticism.
The bottom line is there is no new ObamaCare resistance movement rising in America. In fact, as time has passed fewer people support repealing the Affordable Care Act.
What remains are people like Grace-Marie Turner, a former media consultant to the Republican National Committee with ties to and funding from the pharmaceutical and health care industry, who even at this late stage are continuing their efforts to mislead and confuse the public about health care reform.