Editorial Boards Across the Country Agree: Repealing the Affordable Care Act is a Bad Idea

Jesse Lee

January 19, 2011
03:30 PM EST

As you may have seen in our earlier posts from Secretary Geithner and Assistant to the President for Special Projects Stephanie Cutter, Republicans in the House of Representatives have scheduled time today to vote on a bill to repeal the new freedoms, control over health care decisions, and cost savings the health care law---the Affordable Care Act---provides the American people.

Repeal would be bad for business, bad for the economy, and bad for families’ bank accounts. It would also leave Americans to once again worry about:

Losing their insurance, or having it canceled unexpectedly if they are in an accident or become sick;
Insurance companies raising premiums by double-digits with no recourse or accountability;
Insurance companies denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions; and
Limiting the amount of care people can receive, even if they need it.

Editorial boards and columnists in newspapers across the nation have written at length about why repeal doesn’t make sense for the country:

The Case Against Repeal

New York Times

New York, NY

Reform means that tens of millions of uninsured people will get a chance at security; and many millions more who have coverage can be sure they can keep or replace it.

Sacramento, CA

…Americans now have a clear choice on solutions. The 2010 law offers a real fix, providing a base upon which to build. The House Republican solution is a sham and a giveaway.

Des Moines, IA

Repeal health reform law? Preposterous.

Aurora, CO

[Repeal is]…a genuinely lame idea on several levels.

Poughkeepsie, NY

Repeal of health reform a bad idea.

Charlotte, NC

Repealing health care reform will add to the deficit by an estimated $230 billion over 10 years.

San Jose, CA

Speak up if you support health care reform.

Bemidji, MN

[Republicans] …offer nothing but to undo what the Democrats have done, even against their own ground rules.

Spokane, WA

House Republicans plan to hold a vote on repealing the new health care law, but no replacement is in sight.

Vacaville, CA

Making any meaningful changes will require the GOP to get serious about governing and not just grandstanding.

Sacramento, CA

Instead of focusing on joblessness and other pressing priorities, the new GOP majority in the House appears stuck in the past.

Memphis, TN

Repeal would be a giant step backwards for America.

Kansas City, MO

This brief GOP proposal offers nothing in the way of solutions for a health care system that every politician, GOP or Democrat, had admitted was broken..

Palm Beach, FL

[Republicans] should help to figure out which parts of the law work and which parts don't, then focus on improving health care reform, not stopping it.

Las Vegas, NV

Republicans just don’t get it. Americans largely support the health care law’s key provisions.

Baltimore, MD

GOP's health care repeal zealotry unlikely to sit well with the millions who stand to lose insurance coverage — or who prefer a smaller deficit.

Washington Post

[Repeal]…is purely theatrical - and woefully ill-advised.”

Wilmington, DE

[Republicans]… have been long on promises and short on specifics.

St. Petersburg, FL

... it's worth noting the substantial strides the Affordable Care Act has already achieved in making health care more accessible, and those coming in 2011.

La Opinión

Republican critics…[have misrepresented] the bill as an enlargement of the federal government that would lead to socialism and the creation of 'death panels.'.