Another Good Swing At Defunding Obamacare—But Not A Hit

Ernest Istook / May 02, 2011

Once again the U.S. House plans to take another whack Tuesday at defunding Obamacare—although the Senate and White House are poised to protect the funding.

The bill scheduled for a vote, HR 1213, would repeal the automatic funding that Obamacare provides for federally-dictated insurance exchanges, the mechanisms to sell the re-fashioned and federally-approved insurance policies.  And while the bill does not repeal the requirement that each state either establish such an exchange or have the feds do it for them, billions of taxpayer dollars could be saved if the House bill had a chance to become law.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates savings of $14.6-billion over ten years, but the amount is inexact because Obamacare placed no limit on how much would be spent.  The Secretary of Health and Human Services was given a blank check for that purpose.  It’s just one part of the overall $105-billion slush fund in automatic spending under Obamacare. (more…)