Republicans Bring Cloud Cuckoo Land to the House

Eugene Robinson has an excellent summary of how out of touch with the public Republican attempts to repeal the health care bill are.

A recent AP poll found that 62% of those surveyed either wanted the law left as it is, or wanted it to do more to change the health care system. A Washington Post poll found that only 18% of respondents wanted the law repealed; in the AP poll it was 26%.

As Robinson puts it, "what House Republicans just voted to do may be the will of the Tea Party, but it's not 'the will of the people.'"

Compounding the pretense that there's a public clamor for repeal of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Robinson observes, Republicans have simultaneously cited Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyses to support their claim that the bill will eliminate jobs, and dismissed as rubbish CBO's calculation that it will reduce the deficit by at least $143 billion through 2019.

The section of the CBO report that Republicans tried to appropriate didn't actually refer to job loss, but rather to people who want to withdraw from the workforce, but are afraid to leave their jobs because they need their health insurance. Under the new law they will have other options.

... [V]oters look forward to the day when no one can be denied insurance coverage because of preexisting conditions. They like the fact that young adults, until they are 26, can be kept on their parents' policies. They like not having yearly or lifetime limits on benefits.... Somebody change the subject. Quick!

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