Scott Gottlieb and Tom Miller are correct to recommend options for the states to resist the health-care overhaul law in “How to Reform ObamaCare Starting Now” (op-ed, Oct. 14). But Congress still must do heavy lifting to put the brakes on the tidal wave of federal taxes, spending and new authorities which the law mandates, starting now. Its $500 billion in new taxes will be passed on to consumers as higher health costs and insurance premiums; mandates and new costs on businesses will continue to stifle job creation and send costs soaring; more than $500 billion in spending on new entitlement programs, including a vast expansion of Medicaid, will explode state and federal budgets; and the law’s more than 160 new boards, commissions and agencies will require every corner of the health sector to answer to Washington.
For starters, Congress must find Democrats, including many newly elected by opposing ObamaCare, to build a bipartisan coalition to begin to defund, dismantle and delay regulations; do direct oversight and, as Messrs. Miller and Gottlieb write, delegate more authority to the states to take back control.
Published in The Wall Street Journal, October 20, 2010.