GOP Agenda to Repeal Health Care Reform At Stake in 2012

If Republicans don’t capture the presidency in 2012, they may still be able to limit some funding for the health law’s implementation, but repeal would essentially be out of the question — and the road would become far bumpier in 2016.

One reason is that public opinion of the Affordable Care Act may well improve once the major benefits kick in, as was the case with Medicare and Social Security, both of which were highly controversial at time of passage and likewise slammed by Republican opponents as ruinous to freedom.

Most of the Affordable Care Act’s benefits take effect in 2014 — including guaranteed coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, a ban on annual caps for coverage, the creation of insurance exchanges to lower costs for consumers and small businesses, and the Medicaid expansion and subsidies to help low-income people buy insurance.