Republicans aren’t giving up the fight against health care, even though Saturday will be three years to the day since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. Since then, the Supreme Court has ruled the law is constitutional and President Obama won re-election. But, it’s not deterring former presidential candidate and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who said the law “literally” kills people.
“The American people, especially vulnerable women, vulnerable children, vulnerable senior citizens now get to pay more and they get less. That’s why we are here because we are saying let’s repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. Let’s not do that. Let’s love people. Let’s care about people. Let’s repeal it now while we can,” Bachmann said on the House floor Thursday.
“I can’t understand where she’s coming from,” Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., said on Jansing & Co. Friday. “The Affordable Care Act improves coverage.”
Bachmann “says some interesting things,” Kildee said. “I sit on the Financial Services Committee and it’s usually an entertaining moment when the microphone goes to her.”
But, Bachmann isn’t alone in her opposition. Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget includes the repeal of health care. Sen. Mitch McConnell, during a speech at CPAC trucked out a huge stack of papers and called it “the most most powerful argument yet against Obamacare.”
“What they’re doing is speaking to the far-right of their base that really wants Obamacare repealed,” said Liz Sidoti, National Politics editor for the Associated Press.
Democratic-led states have largely embraced the new health care law, setting up exchanges and expanding Medicaid, while Republican-led states are not. The AP sums it up this way: “Half the states are working intensely to roll out ‘Obamacare’. The other half are doing their utmost to ignore the law.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says eventually Republican governors will sign on to expanding Medicaid, according to an interview in USA Today.
“There are these incremental battles that Republicans and conservatives opposed to Obamacare continue to wage and they will effect the overall impact of the plan,” Politico’s Ken Vogel said on Jansing & Co.
Kristin Donnelly