President Barack Obama and other Democrats intentionally designed the healthcare reform law to fail so they could achieve their ultimate goal to impose a federal system of socialized medicine, Rep. Michael Burgess tells Newsmax.TV.
The Texas Republican, who is a medical doctor himself, issued that diagnosis of Obamacare during an exclusive Newsmax interview marking the law’s one-year anniversary. Opponents have waged a multi-front battle against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act since Obama signed it into law on March 23, 2010. More than half of the states are involved in federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the measure, and efforts continue in Congress to defund it.
”I do think the law, as written, is designed to fail,” Burgess said. “Perhaps the cynic in me would say that’s on purpose because ultimately, their goal was a single-payer, national-run healthcare system of so-called socialized medicine in this country. The other part of me says this is so bad that people will at some point rise up and revolt and reclaim their sovereignty over their healthcare and their lives.”
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Burgess, one of a handful of doctors serving in Congress, is the author of
“Doctor in the House: A Physician-Turned-Congressman Offers His Prescription for Scrapping Obamacare — and Saving America’s Medical System.”
He maintains that the law is simply unworkable, citing the more than 1,000 waivers granted to businesses, unions, and even entire states to avoid compliance with some provisions.
“The waiver activity . . . speaks for the poor construction, and the poor drafting, and the poor implementation of this law so far,” he said. “But here’s the other part of that deal, these waivers are for a year’s time. What’s going to happen in October, November, and December of this year when those waivers start to expire? Pretty clearly they will have to be extended and then what is the long term strategy if you’re having to provide long term waivers for people so they won’t be affected by this thing what in the world is the long term strategy, what is the Plan B when this thing doesn’t work and it clearly is not going to work?”
Burgess acknowledged that the fight has been a struggle but said the court battle has moved more quickly than expected, and the law could end up before the Supreme Court in the next year.
“What faces us now is the rapidity with which implementation is occurring,” he said. “That is really where we need to dig in and make certain that we do cut off the funding where we can to those parts of the law that are most egregious.”
Congress has to make a “down payment on defunding Obamacare,” said Burgess, who added that the House has to cut off funding to specific programs and put the brakes on implementation. Ironically for a federal agency, he said, the Department of Health and Human Services is moving rapidly to implement the law.
“There are those who will argue that you’re going to have to have a change in the United States Senate and a change in the occupancy of the White House before this thing can actually be undone,” he said. “That may well turn out to be correct, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to do everything I can now to get this thing under control and, if possible, to begin to walk it back.”
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