While I was working on matters related to health care reform, House Republicans made good on their campaign promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As expected, Republicans didn’t offer any alternative bill to replace the current law and made only vague assurances that they would study the issue further in committee. I’d be stunned if the House even bothers to pass any sort of substantive health care bill in the next couple years. As I’ve said many times before, most conservatives have no interest in addressing issues related to health care access (other than to tinker around the edges of the problem by offering false solutions such as letting people buy insurance across state lines).
Today’s vote is little more than an exercise in symbolism as the repeal bill won’t get past the Senate, much less the President. The real battle will come over the regulations and funding related to the ACA’s implementation. It will require both sides to pore over spreadsheets and pages of the Federal Register, activities which are far less sexy than mugging for the cameras on the House floor. Republicans are going to have to become nerds if they hope to slow or stop implementation of the law. And that doesn’t seem consistent with the dumbed-down philosophy of governance they so regularly espouse.
