Pull the plug on Obamacare to protect consumers, economy

This weekend marks the three-year anniversary of President Obama signing into law his namesake health care law, a 2,600-page bill that not a single member of Congress fully read before passing it. Three years later, at a time of gargantuan budget deficits and sluggish economic growth, the last thing Florida needs is the implementation of a vast, cumbersome and costly bureaucracy that will hinder growth, exacerbate the nation's fiscal problems, cause millions of Americans to lose their employer-based plans and increase the cost of insurance for those who are lucky enough to keep their coverage.

Obamacare should never have been passed. The unsavory process through which the bill became law, the numerous now-broken promises made to justify the law, and the volume of regulations needed to implement the law undermine individual freedom, economic growth and our nation's founding principles.

In March 2010, then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stunned many when she proclaimed, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." These now-famous words are a prime example of the revolting way this government overreach became law. The legislative process surrounding the passage of Obamacare was riddled with confusion, a lack of transparency and shameless horse trading tactics. This includes the "Louisiana Purchase" boondoggle, which gave extra Medicaid aid to the state of Louisiana to get the Bayou State's Democratic senator to support the bill, as well as the "Cornhusker Kickback," a special deal to garner the support of a Nebraska senator which permanently exempted Nebraska from the state's share of Medicaid costs.

In September 2009, in an effort to justify the health care reform bill, President Obama said, "I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period." However, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has since revealed that Obamacare will increase the long-term federal deficit by $6.2 trillion. A month earlier, in August 2009, the president said, "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." Yet, the Congressional Budget Office has since stated that Obamacare will cause 7 million people to lose their job-based insurance coverage; other analysts, such as those at McKinsey and Co., have predicted that the number of Americans losing their coverage will number in the tens of millions. The only question left is how many millions of Americans will be adversely affected. Supporters promised expanded health care choices at diminished prices, but health care costs are rising while choices are contracting. The trail of broken promises grows by the day.

In addition, the complexity and sheer volume of regulations needed to implement the law is killing economic growth. Pelosi was right when she said we'd have to pass the bill to find out what's in it. What we have since learned is that the law has spawned 20,000 pages of regulations. This amounts to a stack of pages over seven feet high. These regulations create an environment where businesses are discouraged from expanding, the marketplace is muddled with red tape and jobs growth is being stymied.

Add to this list the lack of accountability associated with Obamacare's Independent Payment Advisory Board, a board consisting of 15 unelected bureaucrats armed with the power to reduce Medicare payments without the consent of Congress, the fact that nearly 75 percent of Obamacare costs will fall on those making less than $120,000 a year, and the 21 separate tax increases costing taxpayers over $1 trillion between 2013 and 2022, and it's no wonder that public opinion surveys have consistently shown Obamacare to be unpopular with the American people.

While we are in fact beginning to see Obamacare's deleterious consequences come to fruition, I have not given up on doing everything in my power to fight it. Earlier this month when the U.S. House was debating a resolution to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, I put forward an amendment to save money by defunding Obamacare through the remainder of the year. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz did the same in the U.S. Senate. Neither amendment came to pass, but on this three-year anniversary, conservatives such as Sen. Cruz and myself are fighting for freedom, principle and the prevention of Obamacare from becoming fully implemented. We need patient-centered health reform that promotes competition, lower costs and quality outcomes. Unfortunately, Obamacare is not an antidote to our current problems, but stands as an impediment to true reform.

DeSantis, R-Ponte Vedra Beach, represents Congressional District 6, which includes Flagler County and most of Volusia County.