GOP's health care agenda: Crippling Obamacare and Medicare vouchers

Rep. Kevin Brady, nihilist Here's just what we needed, another wingnut elevated to a position of power in the House of Representatives. The new chair of the influential Health Subcommittee for the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX, of course), is guaranteeing that the fights for Medicare vouchers and killing Obamacare will continue.

[...] Brady says he'll return to some ideas Democrats have outright rejected ' including the premium support model Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has famously advocated for. [...]

Earnestly leaning forward over a table in his Capitol Hill office, Brady ticked through his to-do list for the coming year.

First, he wants to ditch parts of the health care law. A handful of Democrats have already signed on to some of his suggestions, such as repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board and the medical device tax. [...]

He also plans to spend time highlighting the law's new regulations and how they'll affect health providers, patients and employers.

And while he acknowledges the law won't be repealed anytime soon, it's clear he hasn't let go of that hope for sometime down the road.

A truly earnest representative in his position might be focused on how to make the new law work as effectively as possible since it is, you know, the law of the land. The Supreme Court said so. But Brady, a former Chamber of Commerce executive, isn't likely to pursue an agenda that actually makes our health care system function better and more affordably for the consumer.

No, that would be socialism. Brady and his colleagues instead will insist on pursuing the agendas rejected by the nation in the 2012 election. Why? Because they can.