Obamacare Frankenstein Is Scarier Than “Zombie Legislation”

Kathryn Nix / October 25, 2010

In a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Henry J. Aaron, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, writes that rolling back and defunding Obamacare would create “zombie legislation … [i.e.,] a program that lives on but works badly.”

If Aaron is looking for a B horror movie reference to describe the state of American health care under Obamacare, “Frankenstein” would be a much more appropriate choice. Obamacare is a slipshod, pieced-together monster made of bad policy and covered in bolts and scars from the legislative process.

Though proponents of the health care law may still be heard shouting, “It’s alive! It’s alive!,” the truth is that conservatives and liberals alike recognize that, as Aaron puts it, “successful implementation poses remarkable challenges and will require adequate funding, enormous ingenuity, and goodwill from federal and state officials, as well as cooperation from private insurers, businesses, and private citizens.” (more…)