Conservatives are united in one idea: Obamacare is devastating policy for America. To halt its destructive effects, some are saying Congress should merely delay the law. But to truly stop it, Obamacare must be defunded.
Some conservatives are arguing for postponing the individual mandate and employer mandate for one year. Others add that Obamacare’s new entitlements should be delayed.
Delay is not enough.
Obamacare is far more than the individual mandate, the employer mandate, and the new entitlement spending. It’s a massive, government-centered restructuring of American health care.
Simply delaying Obamacare:
- …doesn’t stop Obamacare from harming people. Regulators could continue to enforce the Health and Human Services (HHS) anti-conscience mandate and issue new Obamacare rules that raise costs and premiums for struggling businesses and families alike.
- …is a gift to the Obama Administration. Federal bureaucrats have missed nearly half of their self-imposed deadlines to get the law up and running. Why provide them more time to make sure thousands of regulations are entrenched in the private health care sector?
- …doesn’t stop Obamacare programs from launching. A 53-page Obamacare timeline shows that in 2014 alone, 27 separate Obamacare programs and requirements are scheduled to take effect.
Obamacare is disastrous for individuals, businesses, and doctors alike. The law is unfair, unaffordable, and unworkable. Congress can halt Obamacare’s devastating impact by defunding it entirely before the law’s health insurance exchanges take effect on October 1. This timing is also crucial because Congress will have to make a decision on funding the government before then.
As Heritage’s senior policy analyst Chris Jacobs explained in this video, it is possible to defund the law—and it doesn’t require a government shutdown. “Conservatives want to keep the federal government open. We just want to shut down Obamacare.”
Because full defunding will stop all of Obamacare’s programs, and all of its new regulations, it is the strongest play for those who want to stop Obamacare cold.
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