President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Care Act into law. (Wikimedia Commons Photo)

What’s truly at the core of why Obamacare repeal efforts can’t seem to pick up steam?

But guaranteed issue—an Obamacare mandate that dictates that no one will be denied coverage, regardless of health status, age, gender or other factors, such as pre-existing conditions—shouldn’t be the reason for preventing millions of Americans from experiencing freedom in their health care. After all, guaranteed issue is at the heart of socialized medicine.

Now that the American Health Care Act, and by extension, the fate of government health care, is in the hands of the U.S. Senate, Republicans are running out of time and Senators must act soon to repeal every word of Obamacare.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said, “We could repeal all of Obamacare … I just don’t buy the fact that we can’t do that.” I agree. The path to repeal is simple. In 2010, Democrats used their majority power to pass Obamacare. Now Republicans must use their majority power to repeal it. Republicans should not dither. If Obamacare is not ripped out by its roots, the future of health freedom is dim.

Republicans are in power today because they promised to repeal Obamacare, not replace it with a Republican version of the law. So now, with Republicans in full control, why not just repeal the law? Why are 13 Republican Senators discussing how to restructure Obamacare rather than repeal it?

Look no further than the issue of pre-existing conditions. Liberals claim people with pre-existing conditions will be left to fend for themselves if Obamacare is repealed. They say 127 million individuals with pre-existing conditions will be at risk of life and limb. But states and charity programs took care of these individuals long before Obamacare. Most are already covered by employers and government programs. Just 226,615 people enrolled in state high-risk pools before Obamacare, and only 115,000 joined the Obamacare Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program.

This line of attack is strategic. “Guaranteed issue” of coverage regardless of health status is the heart and soul of Obamacare.

It’s the core value of universal coverage, socialized medicine, national healthcare, single-payer or whatever you want to call the government takeover of health care. Guaranteed issue is not insurance. It’s government-mandated third-party payment of government-approved medical expenses.

To save Obamacare, liberals have falsely claimed the moral high ground. Ending guaranteed issue, they say, is tantamount to letting people die on the streets. Thus far, Republicans have failed to mount the necessary moral offense to counter this attack.

It may seem compassionate, but there is nothing moral about forcing Americans to pay higher premiums to cover the medical bills of the uninsured and uninsurable. There is nothing moral about making health insurance so expensive that the people buying it can’t afford to get sick. There is nothing moral about forcing people to pay more than their home mortgage for a product they may never use. There is nothing moral about destroying the world’s greatest health care system to chase a socialist dream.

Republicans must change the debate—or we can kiss health freedom, patient choice and medical excellence goodbye.

Twila Brase is president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org), a Minnesota-based national organization dedicated to preserving patient-centered health care and protecting patient and privacy rights. Celebrating its 20th year, CCHF exists to protect health care choices and patient privacy.

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