What editorial writers are saying about repealing health system reform

Critics of the law said they would work to dismantle the statute piece by piece if necessary, but supporters said the reforms are constitutionally sound.

Repeal of health reform a bad idea

But repealing the health care law and reverting to a system under which the 50 states can have such varied arrangements doesn't seem terribly effective and, actually, has proven quite inefficient over the decades; health care costs have grown far beyond the rate of inflation and coverage is financially out of reach for far too many. Even supporters of health care reform recognized when the law was passed that no measure of that magnitude was going to be perfect, that it would [be] subject to change once the impacts were known.

Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal, Jan. 7

GOP should fix Obamacare for the long term

Serious Republicans know there's no way they'll repeal the entire law. Still, that reality doesn't mean they shouldn't target the bill's serious deficiencies. We wrote recently that the measure's financing is particularly sketchy. Democrats have assumed that about half of the almost $900 billion legislation will be funded through future Medicare cuts, which Congress has never shown much interest in making. There are other financing problems, too. One part that deserves more attention is the measure's long-term-care entitlement.

The Dallas Morning News, Jan. 4

Speak up if you support health care reform

So if you support President Barack Obama's reforms as a starting point for reshaping the American health care system, this is the time to speak up. Maybe you're relieved that, thanks to reform, you can provide coverage to your kids younger than 26 who can't yet find a job with benefits. Or to know that the cancer you overcame last year won't make you uninsurable in the future. Maybe you just believe that leaving 50 million Americans -- 16.7% of the population -- uninsured was, for a major industrialized nation, an inefficient way to deliver health care and simply wrong.

The (San Jose, Calif.) Mercury News, Jan. 7

The GOP Opportunity

This will begin to frame the stakes for 2012, and from there the GOP can attack Obamacare piece by piece. Postpone next year's tax increase on branded pharmaceuticals and biotech, reform and restore funding for Medicare Advantage, repeal the long-term-care insurance program that is already scheduled to be broke within a decade. Such votes will honor GOP campaign promises, continue to educate voters about the bill's flaws, and perhaps even force Mr. Obama to use a veto or two.

The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 5

GOP threat to repeal Obamacare nothing but acute politics

Americans also got a system that makes it more affordable for small businesses to offer health insurance for employees; a system that makes it possible for recent college graduates to stay on family insurance plans; a system that will save U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion or more over the next 10 years; a system that at least has a chance of pushing down the consumer cost of health care and ensuring that more Americans have better access to it. That's what Republicans want to repeal? And instead, the only real change they offered the last time around was portability and allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines. The only ones who would see that as progress would be the insurance companies.

Aurora (Colo.) Sentinel, Jan. 6

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