The GOP demands to know why the ACA startup is problematic. They're scheduling hearings upon hearings, demanding that Secretary Sibelius be fired, and using every opportunity to call the law a "train wreck," a "catastrophe," etc. Of course, Republicans want to change the subject from their disastrous government shutdown, and it gives them a platform from which to continue to bash the ACA, so this represents a two-fer for them. This makes it just a-okay to create more obfuscation and tell more lies about the ACA.
If the truth were told, they - the GOP/Tea Party - are the reason why the startup is struggling, and Ezra Klein (Washington Post) nailed it this morning in his Wonkbook daily email. Follow me over the fold . . .
I'm quoting here:
How about House Republicans who refused to appropriate the money the Department of Health and Human Services said it needed to properly implement Obamacare?
How about Senate Republicans who tried to intimidate Sebelius out of using existing HHS funds to implement Obamacare? "Would you describe the authority under which you believe you have the ability to conduct such transfers?" Sen. Orrin Hatch demanded at one hearing. It's difficult to imagine the size of the disaster if Sebelius hadn't moved those funds.
How about congressional Republicans who refuse to permit the packages of technical fixes and tweaks that laws of this size routinely require?
How about Republican governors who told the Obama administration they absolutely had to be left to build their own health-care exchanges -- you'll remember that the House Democrats' health-care plan included a single, national exchange -- and then refused to build [them], leaving the construction of 34 insurance marketplaces up to HHS?
How about the coordinated Republican effort to get the law declared unconstitutional -- an effort that ultimately failed, but that stalled implementation as government and industry waited for the uncertainty to resolve?
How about the dozens of Republican governors who refused to take federal dollars to expand Medicaid, leaving about 5.5 million low-income people who'd be eligible for free, federally-funded government insurance to slip through the cracks?
The GOP's strategy hasn't just tried to win elections and repeal Obamacare. They've actively sought to sabotage the implementation of the law. They intimidated the people who were implementing the law. They made clear that problems would be exploited rather than fixed. A few weeks ago, they literally shut down the government because they refused to pass a funding bill that contiained money for Obamacare. [Emphasis mine].
Okay then. Those are questions that deserve answers, right? How about getting these out to everyone you know. They would make an excellent rebuttal to the charges against the ACA that GOP is hammering. And Ezra makes one final point, which is: "If Republlicans believe [Secretary] Sebelius is truly to blame for the law's poor launch, they should be pinning a medal on her."
If you get the opportunity, check out Wonkbook and Wonkblog. They are an excellent addition to our arsenal of fact-based reporting.