By John Merline, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 07/18/2013 07:09 PM ET
President Obama complained Thursday that "despite all the evidence that the (Affordable Care Act) is working the way it was supposed to for middle-class Americans, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted — for nearly the 40th time — to dismantle it."
The line, part of a talk touting all the great things ObamaCare is already doing, got a chuckle out of the audience.
But what Obama didn't say is that he himself has signed three bills that dismantled chunks of ObamaCare. Nor did he mention that his administration has had to issue hundreds of waivers and delay key features that weren't working. Or how the Supreme Court found a major provision unconstitutional. Or that many Democrats want other parts of the law thrown out.
Obama also failed to mention the growing opposition from unions that once backed ObamaCare. One has called for its outright repeal, while saying the law will hurt middle class families.
Indeed, the closer ObamaCare gets to its official start, the more it appears not to be working at all in the way it's supposed to.
Over the past two years, Obama has signed several bills that eliminated parts of the law, or cut their funding. Among them:
The 1099 Rule: ObamaCare would have required small companies to issue 1099 tax forms to vendors from whom they bought as little as $600 in goods and services. Small firms recoiled at the massive paperwork burden and the $17 billion in taxes. In the Senate, 34 Democrats joined all Republicans on a repeal, which Obama signed in April 2011.
Free-Choice Vouchers: That same month, Obama signed the repeal of a rule requiring companies to provide vouchers to low-income workers who didn't sign up with their health plans. They were supposed to help these workers pay for coverage in an ObamaCare exchange.
CLASS Act: This January, Obama signed a repeal of the law's long-term care insurance program. The administration had already said it wouldn't implement CLASS because it was hopelessly financially unsound.
Many Democrats also oppose two other parts of ObamaCare:
IPAB: Twenty House Democrats have backed a repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which would put 15 unelected bureaucrats in charge of Medicare payment cuts. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., once called IPAB "a mindless rate-cutting machine."
Medical Device Tax: More than 30 Senate Democrats voted in March to repeal ObamaCare's $30 billion excise tax on medical device makers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the tax would hurt companies with the "broadest innovative potential."
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