Thursday, November 4, 2010

Will Republicans Repeal Health Care Legislation?

In short, they can't since they will not control the Senate, and cannot override a presidential veto. Here's an argument that they lack any incentive to do it either.

This is a great (and perhaps cynical) statement on the difference between campaigning an governing:

There’s a big difference between campaigning and legislating. In the campaign, Republican candidates appealed to their base, which was worked up about health reform without much understanding of what it does and how it works (this lack of understanding is broadly held, it’s not just a Republican base thing). The Republican base hates health reform because it’s a symbol of Obama. They think it’s a product of the far left, when in fact it’s chock full of Republican ideas.

But that thinking is of principal relevance to the campaign, not to governing. When the new Republican House majority starts legislating on health care, they will be more concerned with what the relevant interest groups want. The insurance industry, hospitals, and drug companies want looser regulation and lower taxes. That is, the big players want what they always want–more control over implementation and establishment of favorable regulations–even if it’s at the expense of a more efficient health system for the rest of us. But they also want the mandate, which can’t work without the subsidies and insurance reforms.
It's the Tea Party vs. the insurance companies. The safe bet is the latter wins.