I pride myself on trying to stay informed on current events, but even I have lost count on how many times the Republican Party has tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Regardless of how many times Republicans have attempted to repeal the bill, it is needless to say that each time they try, they say that Obamacare will destroy the country because it expands the size of government by adding more regulations and employees. This is ironic, because the current shortcomings of the legislation are actually caused by a government that is too small.

One such shortcoming is the disappointing launch of healthcare.gov. Republicans have responded to the failed launch claiming that it is an example of how government ruins every industry they touch.

What they forgot was that no person was in charge of overseeing the website. There was no project director in charge of the website and there was no one hired to care of the website’s shortcomings until recently. It is hard to say whether the website would have avoided glitches if it had proper oversight, but having a project director and other officials around to offer professional insight could have helped. Hiring these officials would mean increasing the size of government, but it has become clear that such growth in government is necessary for the proper implementation of this law.

Another major shortcoming thus far is with people unexpectedly losing their health insurance plans. People lost their plans mainly because they failed to meet the Affordable Care Act’s standards. There were no clear requirements in terms of what health insurers could do to its customers, especially if the insurers failed to meet these standards. If there was proper government oversight, there would be people charged with making sure that the insurers did not disenfranchise its customers due to the implementation of the Obamacare. At the very least, there needed to be regulation attached to the legislation that safeguards consumers against health insurance companies dropping people off their rolls. Hiring more staff and adding regulations would increase the size of government, but such actions are necessary to properly implement this law, or any law, for that matter.

Republicans point to the failed implementation of Obamacare as a reason to “repeal and replace” . Democrats respond to that idea by saying that the goal should be to “fix it, don’t nix it” . No matter what anyone thinks about whether Obamacare’s repeal should or should not happen, congressional conservatives still fail to realize that curtailing the law will not happen anytime soon. Even with a Republican president, a Republican-led House, and a Republican-led Senate, this legislation would unlikely be repealed. Conservatives have the filibuster to thank for that, because forty-one senators on the minority side are enough to stop any piece of legislation, including the repeal of Obamacare. For the Democrats to not have at least forty-one seats in the foreseeable future is nearly impossible. Fixing this legislation is the only way to proceed, but for the Democrats, it will involve much more than just fixing a web site. They will need to fix their attitudes on how much government is necessary to implement this legislation.

On the contrary, conservatives will continue to claim that the Obamacare’s biggest shortcoming is that it involves too much government. They are wrong. If there was a proper amount of government involvement here, there would be oversight of healthcare.gov, prevention of the health insurance industry from disenfranchising consumers, and regulation of insurers. Instead, the Obamacare fails to have such regulations. This piece of legislation is suffering from a government that is not large enough.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolynmcclanahan/2012/11/10/why-the-repeal-and-replace-rhetoric-on-obamacare-failed-romney/
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50157774n