Guess Who Thinks Obamacare Might Need to Be Repealed

If you guessed "Tea Party Republicans," you only get partial credit.

Incidentally, while I am pleased that the New York Times is covering this story, my guess is that if a key portion of a Republican president's political base rebelled against one of said president's key policy initiatives, we would be hearing about it nonstop from just about every news media outlet there is.

More Obamacare Revelations

We continue to find out what is in the health care reform bill:

• Contrary to earlier promises, you may not be able to keep your doctor.
• Unions--who aren't exactly members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy--don't like the new health care reform law.
• We seem to have ourselves an imperial presidency. Those who claimed that the last administration exercised imperial presidential powers are curiously silent.

For Fans of Obamacare, This News Qualifies as "Worrisome"

​We've known for a while that a number of unions are not fans of the Affordable Care Act, but it likely sends a shudder up the spines of the president and those who staff his administration each time those unions make their feelings known:

Labor unions are breaking with President Obama on ObamaCare.

Months after the president’s reelection, a variety of unions are publicly balking at how the administration plans to implement the landmark law. They warn that unless there are changes, the results could be catastrophic.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) — a 1.3 million-member labor group that twice endorsed Obama for president — is very worried about how the reform law will affect its members’ healthcare plans. 

Last month, the president of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers released a statement calling “for repeal or complete reform of the Affordable Care Act.”

UNITE HERE, a prominent hotel workers’ union, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are also pushing for changes. 

In a new op-ed published in The Hill, UFCW President Joe Hansen homed in on the president’s speech at the 2009 AFL-CIO convention. Obama at the time said union members could keep their insurance under the law, but Hansen writes “that the president’s statement to labor in 2009 is simply not true for millions of workers.”

Republicans have long attacked Obama’s promise that “nothing in this plan will require you to change your coverage or your doctor.” But the fact that unions are now noting it as well is a clear sign that supporters of the law are growing anxious about the law’s implementation.

​Note that the admission that Obamacare can and will indeed force many people to change their coverage and their doctors is not mentioned until the seventh paragraph of the story. Better late than never, but this news should headline the story. It is finally beginning to dawn on people that Obamacare will not offer consumers the choices it promised to offer. And that lack of choice is turning unions against the Affordable Care Act, and possibly breaking up the Democratic coalition in the process.