OPINION:
The GOP effort to hold hearings about Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ role in the technical disaster at the heart of the Obamacare exchanges is breathtakingly politically misguided (“Sebelius to appear before House on Obamacare on Oct. 30,” Web, Oct. 21).
Rep. Fred Upton, Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is quoted as saying, “We are now entering week four of the botched health care rollout, and with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars spent for a system that still does not work, Congress and the American people deserve answers.” What exactly did Mr. Upton, a limited-government conservative, expect? Has he never been to register his car at the Department of Motor Vehicles or to the post office on his lunch hour?
Ostensibly, the scheduled congressional hearings reflect some notion of finding out what “went wrong.” Herein lies the problem with GOP-led congressional hearings: Implicit in this question is a presumption that the big-government takeover of the health care system should have worked and that we need to hold Mrs. Sebelius accountable for ruining a fundamentally legitimate effort.
While congressional hearings may result in finding her “accountable” in the short run, the implications drawn from a high-profile, public hearing risk affirming the Democrats’ false narrative that big government simply requires improvements.
Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee shot the GOP in the foot. It’s not time to reload; it’s time to walk away and refuse to participate in the disaster known as Obamacare — and to let the American people experience “universal health care” in all its glory.
MICHAEL JANOCIK
Louisville, Ky.
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