Axelrod: Hey, we'll fix ObamaCare as it rolls out

Old and busted: The only thing wrong with ObamaCare is Republican sabotage! New hotness: We have to fix the problems with ObamaCare as we go along!  Consider this an extension of Nancy Pelosi’s famous sales pitch for the program, “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.”  In this case, Obama confidante David Axelrod argues that we have to impose the law before we can find out where it’s broken:

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Axelrod was asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” whether in the wake of delays and changes to Obamacare there would be more tweaking moving forward.

“I have to believe that’s going to be the case,” Axelrod said. “Any time you implement something like this, it’s new and there’s no doubt that it’s complicated, there will be changes along — there should be changes along the way.”

CNBC has a different take on the latest delay leaked out of the Obama administration:

Obamacare might not be a “train wreck,” but the wheels sure do keep coming off of it.

Yet another delay in a key part of the Affordable Care Act gave critics more ammunition and raised further questions about the Obama administration’s authority to delay implementing sections of the law without congressional approval.

The delay—which came to light Tuesday and relates to limits on out-of-pocket medical costs—also inflamed a leading patients’ rights organization that originally backed Obama’s efforts to reform health insurance. The controversy comes less than 50 days before new ACA state health exchanges begin signing up uninsured individuals on Oct. 1.

“This is very cynical and shameless what the administration is doing here,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told CNBC.com as he renewed calls for Congress to defund Obamacare. “To amend the statute you’re supposed to be required to get legislation, and they didn’t do that.”

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Notice too, that despite the inability to protect private data in the exchanges and the inability to confirm income data to control fraud in subsidy payments, the White House refuses to delay and fix the individual mandate, or to work with Congress on statutory fixes rather than unconstitutional edicts.  “Fixes” require working with Congress to change laws, not refusals to abide by laws in hope that no one notices that the Obama administration’s “fixes” all favor businesses at the expense of consumers — ahead of the 2014 midterm elections.

Axelrod’s right that there should be “changes” along the way. Voters can make some of those in 15+ months.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
David Strom 11:20 AM | November 21, 2024
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