The minute the Supreme Court upheld most of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, Republicans cranked up the “repeal and replace” volume. The House voted again Wednesday to repeal the entire law.
Meanwhile, President Obama has repeatedly warned that Americans will be hurt if part or all of the legislation is rolled back. “People’s lives are affected by the lack of availability of health care,” Mr. Obama has told reporters, “the inaffordability of health care, their inability to get health care because of pre-existing conditions.” In fact, very few people would be hurt if part or all of the law is repealed, and millions of them would be helped.
One of the most cited “benefits” of the law, which doesn’t take effect until 2014, is the provision prohibiting health insurers from declining an applicant because of a pre-existing medical condition, known as “guaranteed issue.” Yet the problem, while it is real for some people, was never as big as the president claims.