Time for Ellmers to end the Obamacare bashing

Even though many of her Republican colleagues in Congress have realized the political foolishness in continuing to bash the Affordable Care Act, which they call “Obamacare,” U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers of Dunn just can’t let it go.

Ellmers, a nurse, rode the attack on the ACA to a seat in Congress in 2010, but she hasn’t found many other issues on which to focus since. As the ACA has rolled out, after a rocky start, it’s worked for millions of Americans who couldn’t get health insurance otherwise.

But in a recent discussion held by the Apex Chamber of Commerce, the congresswoman was still talking about how Republicans would repeal Obamacare if they win the White House and said, “We have an alternative to the ACA. If we are able to repeal it, we will have a plan for the people that will bring down cost and increase choice.” But here’s the problem with that: Republicans have come up with sketchy plans at best, and they haven’t figured out how they’ll prevent the 16 million Americans now covered through the ACA from losing their insurance.

This is the problem with a party that has roiled Congress without getting much done and seems only to attack the president without any positive or productive ideas of its own. Ellmers could be one of those who develops such ideas. Instead, she’s continuing to focus only on attacking the ACA with virtually nothing to help uninsured Americans protect themselves and their families.

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Time for Ellmers to end the Obamacare bashing."