The GOP's only chance at repeal is now

In response to recent violence against a member of Congress, Speaker of the House John Boehner began referring to the 2010 Health Care Reform as “job destroying” rather than “job killing.”

Symbolic modifications aside, Republican efforts to overturn the landmark legislation persist.

And that should come as no surprise. Some might suggest that House Republicans are “wrong” for trying to repeal health care reforms.

Certainly, they are not wrong for debating an issue that they, probably correctly, believe they were elected to give voice to. Capitol Hill is, after all, the nation’s premier forum for debating difficult and controversial policies.

But as wise debaters, should House Republicans not consider that they have very slim hopes of repealing the legislation, and as a matter of efficiency, work on issues that might be conducive to producing legislation?

That would be the best way to proceed if you believe the health care bill has made at least some modest improvements to the way we provide health care to our citizens. It would also make sense if you alternatively think the reform does so little that a bipartisan solution to pressing matters such as climate change is a better use of time than making noise about repealing legislation that is, at least for the next two years, here to stay.

But if you’re a Republican member of the 112th Congress, you probably don’t think that way.

The views of the Republicans’ invigorated Tea Party base are represented fairly well by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuchinelli.  

According to a federal lawsuit he won against the health care bill, it is unconstitutional for the government to require citizens to purchase a private product such as health care.

Between some Republicans’ commitment to these principles and others’ desire to be re-elected by people highly committed to limiting government, the Republican Party is certainly not without strategy to futilely attempt a repeal as a matter of electoral strategy.

Now is, after all, their only time to suspend the legislation.

In the long run, Americans inevitably support expanded social services. Thanks to the New Deal, we have Social Security payments for elderly retired people.

The Johnson Administration helped introduce Medicare and Medicaid. All three are now relatively popular programs, and it would be very difficult to attract political support to repeal them.

Republicans know that the moment for repeal is upon them. If they cannot attract attention to their position and win enough seats in Congress and the presidency in 2012, the public that benefits from the crucial elements of the health care bill will never again support repealing it.

People ultimately acknowledge the value of social guarantees in the long run, and the Republicans’ single opportunity to suspend them is before many of the bill’s provisions take effect.

Otherwise, we might just become accustomed to living in a world in which patients cannot be denied insurance on the basis of pre-existing conditions.