Today's opinions and editorials

Now Comes The Hard Part The New York Times
Making the most out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will also depend on something a little less exciting: putting the existing plan into action (Jonathan Cohn, 3/25).

Fix Health Reform, Then Repeal It The New York Times
We are unapologetic advocates for the repeal of this costly misstep. But Republicans must also make the case for a reform agenda to take its place, and get to work on that effort now (Rep. Paul Ryan, 3/25).

ObamaCare: Repeal, Replace Or What? The Wall Street Journal
As if governors these days don't have enough on their plates. Now that ObamaCare has become law, there's a whole new to-do list for my state (Gov. Mitch Daniels, 3/26).

Some Poor Posturing Los Angeles Times
Given an opportunity to shore up weaknesses in the new law, Republicans sought to render it unworkable or force Democrats to cast votes that could be caricatured on the campaign trail (3/25).

Health Bill Will Only Entrench Power Of The Insurance Industry The Sacramento Bee
This "historic bill," instead of eliminating the root of our health care woes, further enriches and entrenches a profit-driven health insurance industry that makes money when it succeeds in not paying medical bills (Claudia Chaufan, 3/26).

Obamacare's Next Trick: The VAT The Washington Post
With the passage of Obamacare, creating a vast new middle-class entitlement, a national sales tax of the kind near-universal in Europe is inevitable (Charles Krauthammer, 3/26).

Cutting Health-Care Costs Begins With Us Des Moines Register
The way to reduce spending in health care is to spend less. One way to spend less is to use less care (3/26).

Here's A Health Care Cost You Didn't Expect To Pay Tri City Herald
Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna pledged Monday to go to federal court to challenge the constitutionality of the health care overhaul. The Republican had barely finished taking the pledge … when Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire promised she'd see him in court (Ken Robertson, 3/23).

---

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.