(from the Editors of the New York Post) – Remember all the assurances about ObamaCare when it passed? Since then, we’ve learned that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was right: We had to pass it to find out what was in it. To mark the opening of the ObamaCare exchanges, we’ve gathered a sampling of what people were saying then and what they say now:
Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa
“The plan that Congress is considering will provide health insurance to millions of Americans who don’t have it and control costs for millions more who do.”
Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa, calling for Congress to pass ObamaCare, March 16, 2010
“Right now, unless you and the Obama administration enact an equitable fix, [Obamacare] will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40-hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”
Hoffa in a July 2013 letter to Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the top Senate and House Democrats
Sen. Max Baucus
“Americans have been fighting for health-care reform for almost a century. We have now enacted into law the affordable health-care system our country needs to be competitive in the 21st century global economy. Families and small businesses in Montana and across the nation will finally have the health care stability and security they deserve. This law brings the American people lower health-care costs, protection from insurance-company abuses, increased choice and marketplace competition. This law means a brighter future, not just for the health of our nation, but for the fiscal future of our country.”
Sen. Max Baucus, hailing the passage of ObamaCare in a press release where he describes himself as having “drafted a significant portion of the legislation and played a key role in passing it through the Senate,” March 23, 2010
“I just tell you, I just see a huge train wreck coming down.”
Sen. Baucus to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius during a Senate hearing on ObamaCare’s implementation, April 17, 2013
“For decades, the General Board of Church and Society has worked alongside thousands of United Methodists to achieve health care for all in the US. This vote [for ObamaCare] brings us closer to that reality.”
Jim Winkler, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, March 22, 2010
“Key features of the Affordable Care Act begin in a few months, but unless Congress acts soon, clergy and lay employees of churches may soon lose their health-care coverage. In the confusion and political drama accompanying the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or ‘ObamaCare’), Congress overlooked the clergy and lay employees of churches.”
Press release from the UMC’s General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, complaining that ObamaCare will take away benefits from Methodist clergy, July 25, 2013
Rep. Mike McIntyre
“Health-care reform is needed, but the bill before us is too expensive, does not adequately address rising medical costs and skyrocketing insurance premiums, and tries to do too much too soon. We simply cannot afford to create a new federal bureaucracy that costs nearly $1 trillion when our national debt is $12 trillion and there is no plan in place to address it. I will not vote for it.”
Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, explaining why he would vote no on ObamaCare, March 19, 2010
“My record on the health-care law has been crystal clear – I voted against it when it was first considered, have voted to repeal it dozens of times and today voted to defund it. . . . The need for health-care reform is clear, but this law is not the right approach for our citizens, communities and businesses.”
Rep. McIntyre, one of only two Democrats in the House to vote to defund ObamaCare, Sept. 20, 2013
“No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period.”
President Obama addressing the American Medical Association, June 16, 2009.
“Depending on the plan you choose in the marketplace, you may be able to keep your current doctor.”
The White House Web site on health care, modifying what had been a presidential guarantee, in July 2013
