Jeffrey H. Anderson, writing for National Review Online:
Republicans still have a long way to go to take control of the Senate, but as the Hill reports (and John Fund notes below), if they achieve their goal, four things will “top their list” of to-do items in the first 100 days: “Authorizing the Keystone XL oil pipeline, approving ‘fast-track’ trade authority, wiping out proposed environmental regulations and repealing the medical device tax.” For those scoring at home, that’s three things that have nothing to do with Obamacare and one that would help improve Obamacare on the margins and therefore make President Obama’s centerpiece legislation just a little bit less likely to be repealed. No mention is made of the most important thing for a GOP Congress to do — advance a winning alternative to Obamacare. Nor is there any mention of the most important Obamacare vote for Republicans to take as soon as possible — a vote to stop the bailout of insurance companies. With Democrats firmly committed to a big-government liberalism that consolidates money and power in Washington at the expense of everyday Americans in the tributaries, Republicans can win elections (and not just midterm elections) if they’ll simply make clear that they’re the party of Main Street, U.S.A. But it’s hard to make that case when your agenda suggests you’re still the party of corporate America. Well-funded corporate lobbyists want Obamacare’s medical device tax to be repealed, while the similarly well-funded insurance lobby doesn’t want Obamacare’s insurer bailout to be stopped. Repealing the medical-device tax, however, doesn’t undermine the structure of Obamacare in any way. Its repeal would simply help more Republicans make peace with the overhaul of American medicine. Stopping the insurer bailout, on the other hand, would not only save taxpayers about $1 billion annually but would put pressure on Obama’s insurance-company allies to price their Obamacare exchange policies honestly, rather than lowballing prices in anticipation of being bailed out by taxpayers. Thus, stopping the bailout would hurt Obamacare’s enrollment and improve the prospects for repeal. As Jim Capretta writes, Obamacare’s insurer bailout “is one of the most important features of the entire law,” and congressional Republicans should make stopping it “among their highest legislative priorities.”
Whole thing here.