In battle against health law, hard-liners advise GOP lawmakers not to 'fix it'

A Republican strategy firm urged GOP lawmakers to stand firm against the measure, and to only take action if affected industries "endorse full repeal."

Politico: Dick Armey: Don't Popularize 'Obamacare'
The Republicans' newest directive in battling back against the health reform law is simple: don't fix it. In a memo to House Republicans, obtained by POLITICO, Republican strategy firm FreedomWorks pushes members not to improve the legislation — which could run the risk of making the law more popular — and warns against working with industries that do not support the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. "Don't reward collaborators. Don't repeal the IPAB rationing board, or reduce any of the various Obamacare taxes, unless the affected industries endorse full repeal," strategists Dick Armey, Matt Kibbe and Dean Clancy write in the memo (Kliff, 2/16).

NPR's SHOTS blog: Health Hard-Liners To GOP: Most Americans Are 'Over-Insured'
Let's suppose for a minute that Republicans succeed with the repeal part of their professed "repeal and replace" strategy for the huge federal health care law. What would the replacement look like? Well, the folks at FreedomWorks have a few ideas. If that name doesn't ring a bell, the group is led by former House GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey, and is an organizational backer of the Tea Party movement. In a memo obtained by NPR, the organization proposes a sweeping health agenda that includes turning "Medicare and Medicaid into vouchers that beneficiaries can use to buy good private health coverage" (Rovner, 2/16).