The Senate’s Historic ObamaCare Repeal Vote

Highlights from my op‐​ed today at Real Clear Policy on last week’s Senate vote repealing the majority of ObamaCare:

Health‐​care entitlements are supposed to be a political third rail — touch them, and you die. This Senate vote means majorities in both chambers of Congress will approve a bill repealing not one but two health‐​care entitlements…That alone makes yesterday’s vote historic.


Even more remarkable, it is doubtful Republicans will suffer at the polls for it. Republicans have done well by running against Obamacare. Most recently, Matt Bevin won the governor’s race in Kentucky by campaigning against ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion, which his predecessor implemented.


The history‐​making doesn’t end there. A bill repealing the majority of ObamaCare is now almost certain to land on President Obama’s desk. It is not often that presidents have to veto a law repealing most of their signature legislative achievement.


Finally, the vote is historic for what it portends: It proves that America is just one presidential election away from repealing ObamaCare…


With that prospect on the horizon, states that have not implemented ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion will now be even more reluctant to do so. This vote may even encourage Governor Bevin to make Kentucky the first state to withdraw from the expansion…


Republicans and Democrats should replace ObamaCare not with “ObamaCare‐​lite,” but with reforms like large health savings accounts (HSAs), which would drive down medical prices and deliver an effective tax cut of $9 trillion — greater than the Reagan and Bush tax cuts combined.