Correcting the Media on ObamaCare

ACL Chairman Peter Thomas sent this letter to the editor in order to correct media accounts about the Congressional Budget Office report on repealing ObamaCare.

To the editor:

Media coverage of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on repealing ObamaCare has often ignored its most important points, while headlining its alleged finding that repeal would increase the deficit.  The public needs to know what the report really said.

1.  The CBO does not really know what effect repeal will have on the deficit.  They cannot even say whether the deficit would go up or down (page 1of the report).
2. ObamaCare is a significant drag on the economy, reducing economic growth by an estimated $216 billion dollars over the next ten years (page 1).  Now we know one reason why the “recovery” has been so slow.
3. The CBO predicts that repeal would reduce the deficit for the next three to five years (page 2), the period for which its projections have the greatest chance of accuracy.
4. Its projections of an increased deficit in later years assume Congress will allow Medicare cuts and tax on health insurance to go into effect.  Such an assumption has always been unlikely, and recent Congressional passage of a bill repealing the Medical Device Tax reinforces skepticism.

ObamaCare has never had the support of the American people.  It should be repealed.

Sincerely

Peter J. Thomas

Chairman, Americans for Constitutional Liberty