House plans two votes to repeal healthcare law before Supreme Court ruling – The Hill’s Healthwatch

The House will keep voting on piecemeal bills to repeal parts of President Obama’s healthcare law before the Supreme Court decides whether the law is unconstitutional.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in a planning memo that the House will vote on two partial repeal bills as early as June 4. One would repeal the health law’s tax on medical devices, and the other would relax the law’s restrictions on the use of tax-preferred health savings accounts (HSAs).

via House plans two votes to repeal healthcare law before Supreme Court ruling – The Hill’s Healthwatch.

Tension in GOP Over Health-Care Response – WSJ.com

Much of their strategy will depend on what gets proposed by Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. His campaign is considering proposing a change to the tax code to give individuals incentives to buy health insurance that are similar to those larger employers get. Exactly how that would work isnt clear, and an aide to the Romney campaign said it hadnt settled on an approach for the potential proposal.Mr. Romney regularly says it is unfair that Americans who buy individual insurance plans dont receive the same kind of tax benefits as those who get insurance through their employers. That “discrimination,” as one staffer described it, is a primary focus as the Romney camp shapes its health-care policy.

via Tension in GOP Over Health-Care Response – WSJ.com.

Obama Warns Supremes: Don’t Overturn Healthcare Reform

The Obama administration warned the Supreme Court this week via papers filed with the Court that if Obamacare is struck down, there will be an “extraordinary disruption” in Medicare. Medicare was not discussed during the Supreme Court arguments, since it was not a Constitutional issue. This is a practical argument, not a legal one; it’s the Obama administration applying pressure to the Supremes.

via Obama Warns Supremes: Don’t Overturn Healthcare Reform.

Why the (un)Affordable Care Act should be repealed and replaced – Health – AEI

As co-authors of Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America,1 we strongly recommend that the Affordable Care Act of 2010 should be repealed and replaced as soon as possible. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has become deservedly more unpopular since its enactment.2,3  It is too costly to finance,4 too difficult to administer,5 too burdensome on health care professionals,6 and too disruptive of existing health care arrangements that many Americans prefer.7  It will limit future economic growth,8 distort health care delivery,9 exacerbate already-unsustainable entitlement spending,10 and erase any meaningful constitutional limits on the enumerated powers of the federal government.11  By relying on illusory formulaic reductions in future payments to physicians, on burdensome new reporting requirements, and on top-down restrictions on medical innovation, it will further jeopardize access to quality care.12

via Why the (un)Affordable Care Act should be repealed and replaced – Health – AEI.

Commentary: A Plan to End ObamaCare — and the Current Health Care Status Quo [Michigan Capitol Confidential]

Specifically, the plan proposes to enact certain free-market reforms that would dramatically lower costs, and then give every American a voucher to purchase a health insurance policy that covers unexpected and very expensive events but not routine costs. If a person didn’t select a policy, presumably he or she would automatically be enrolled in one.

Murray’s research indicates that with a specified package of patient-centered, market-based health care system reforms, the annual cost of a reasonably complete insurance policy for every American would be not much more than $3,000 per person. That would be a “community rated” price, meaning everyone pays the same amount regardless of age or health status.

via Commentary: A Plan to End ObamaCare — and the Current Health Care Status Quo [Michigan Capitol Confidential].

RealClearPolitics – Even If It Survives the Court, the Health Care Law Is Doomed

Media coverage now implies that the U.S. Supreme Court will determine the fate of President Obama’s health care law. But nothing the court decides will keep the law alive for more than a brief period of time.

There are three ways the health care law could meet its end.

via RealClearPolitics – Even If It Survives the Court, the Health Care Law Is Doomed.

How to replace Obamacare – Health – AEI

This history suggests that, now that Obamacare is with us, the law cannot be reversed without a credible proposal for what should take its place. Those reforms must account for both the strengths and the weaknesses of our health-care system, and must solve the problems that contributed to the demand for Obamacare in the first place. There is room for debate about the particulars of these reforms, and different components of our health-care system will call for different kinds of fixes. What any effective solution must involve, however, is the creation of a true market in health coverage — one that drives efficiency through competition, and places health-care decisions in the hands of consumers and taxpayers, where they belong.

via How to replace Obamacare – Health – AEI.

Democrats Offer New Argument on Health Care Act : Roll Call News

But on the other hand, arguing that repealing the law could hold political peril is a far cry from running on the law’s popularity. “The party that told us you had to pass the bill to find out what’s in it is now saying you’d have to repeal it to find out how popular it is,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

via Democrats Offer New Argument on Health Care Act : Roll Call News.

GOPers clash over health-law repeal – Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer – POLITICO.com

But a gaggle of Republican lawmakers came alive to the fact that changing malpractice laws at the federal level would interfere with existing state laws — in some cases, nullifying states’ constitutions. States’ rights advocates got up into a tizzy.

To make the situation more complicated, Democrats who supported repealing IPAB won’t vote for the kind of medical malpractice reform Republicans support.

via GOPers clash over health-law repeal – Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer – POLITICO.com.

KING & DEMINT: End Obamacare, don’t mend it – Washington Times

A vote to repeal only IPAB sends the message that we believe Obamacare is the patient and IPAB is the cancer that needs to be removed to save Obamacare. Our true patient is health care freedom, and Obamacare – not part of it, but all 2,000 pages – is the malignancy.

Given a choice between Obamacare as it is or full repeal, a majority of Americans and – if not now, very soon – a majority of Congress will choose full repeal. Therefore, that must be the only choice Republicans offer. Until Obamacare is fully repealed, the only health care votes Republicans should cast should be for full repeal of the unconstitutional takeover.

via KING & DEMINT: End Obamacare, don’t mend it – Washington Times.