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Friday, January 27, 2012

Romney Adviser Norm Coleman Predicts GOP President Won't Repeal Health Law

Romney adviser Norm Coleman predicts GOP president won't repeal health law - The Hill's Healthwatch

 Former Minnesota Senator and Romney adviser Norm Coleman

Former Minnesota Senator and Mitt Romney adviser Norm Coleman predicts that the GOP won't repeal the Democrats' healthcare reform law even if a Republican is elected president this Fall.  Coleman, who lost to Al Franken in a protracted recount battle for a second term in the Senate in 2008, said they won't be able to throw out the entire healthcare law whole-cloth.  That's what he told BioCentury, which is a television talk show.  Coleman said that they can substantially change what's been done.  Coleman's remarks are interesting given the fact that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has vowed to repeal Obamacare if he's elected president.  The repeal of Obamacare, or the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010, has been at the forefront of the GOP primary the past two years.  These past two years all the GOP candidates have stated they intend to repeal Obamacare if elected president.  Coleman also made the statement that the recent healthcare law could collapse on its own if the Supreme Court strikes down the requirement that every American has health insurance.  I'm not sure the Supreme Court will strike down the requirement that every American has health insurance.

Mitt Romney wants to persuade voters that if elected president, he'll repeal Obamacare.  Consequently, the healthcare law that was passed in Massachusetts in 2006 is a smaller version of the nationalized Affordable Healthcare Act which was passed by both Houses of Congress in March 2010. Some time back I read in a Newsmax article that the advisers who advised Romney on Massachusetts healthcare law also advised President Obama on the national healthcare law which passed nearly two years ago.  I have a very difficult time believing Mitt Romney is going to repeal Obamacare.  First it will have to be repealed by both houses of Congress.  That's won't be easy since there are all sorts of interest groups that will bribe our elected elite to not repeal Obamacare.  Secondly, I don't trust Romney.  I believe he's a candidate of political expediency.  He'll say whatever he has to win elections, if he has a desire to win the presidency, which is questionable.  I know Romney makes the argument that it's not the perogative of the federal government to pass national healthcare.  Romney argues it's a state issue.  However, the healthcare law that was passed in Massachusetts in 2006 has driven up healthcare costs.  It's not been good for the citizens of Massachusetts.  On top of that, Romney knows Romneycare is disastrous for Massachusetts.  He knows how to operate a business.  He knows Romneycare will be too costly for the citizens of Massachusetts.  The math doesn't add up.  Would you think he knew how to run a business knowing he pushed for a statewide healthcare law in Massachusetts?  Romney knows how to run a business better than any of the current GOP candidates still in contention for the presidency.  Consequently he's another flip-flop politician who points his nose in the air checking to see which way the wind blows. 

The repeal of healthcare is a campaign issue all the GOP candidates are trying to monopolize when running for president.  As I've stated in older posts, all these candidates want the issue, but they have no intention to solve the problem.  That includes Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-MN).  Why do I say that?  Since the Republicans are in charge of the House of Representatives, they have the constitutional authority to stop wasteful spending by means of defunding.  They can defund spending measures that are unconstitutional.  If Bachmann was serious about repealing healthcare, she would be organizing a group of Republicans in the House to remove funding from Obamacare.  Has she done so?  No.  It's all about the issue.  Instead of defunding Obamacare, they will hold a symbolic vote to repeal Obamacare (as they did last year) knowing that it won't be repealed with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president.  However, the Republicans can use their majority in the House (since they chair all the various committees in the House), to stop funding unconstitutional spending.  Since they won't do so I'm going to assume they're not serious about repealing Obamacare.  To go a step further, the GOP House isn't serious at all about eliminating wasteful spending.  They didn't reduce the size of government during the last fiscal year and I guarantee you the 112th Congress won't reduce the size of government this fiscal year either.  Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum can say repeatedly they're going to repeal Obamacare if elected president.  Sadly, it's nothing but campaign rhetoric.  They can't repeal Obamacare singlehandedly.  There's no genuine commitment upon any of our elected elite (Congress included) to repeal Obamacare. 

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