The following content is sponsored by Americans for Limited Government.
The prevailing wisdom in Washington is that Republicans are all bark and no bite when it comes to implementing their disdain for Obamacare. The truth is, the GOP actually has a pretty good story to tell.
It’s not often you hear Republicans discuss what they’ve done to prevent some of Obamacare’s most harmful provisions from going into effect, but GOP lawmakers have quietly vetoed this legislation for years. During President Trump’s first term, Republicans gutted Obamacare. individual mandatehas “canceled” itscadillac tax“Abolished the law Independent Payments Advisory Board (IPAB), and ended it medical device tax. Each of those accomplishments saved taxpayers billions of dollars while preventing the legislation from further expanding Washington’s control over our health care.
Now, as lawmakers grapple with the impending end of the Biden-era policy that eliminated Obamacare’s insurance subsidies, one of the law’s original sins still stands — the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, better known as CMMI.. Sold in 2010 as a technocratic “innovation hub”, CMMI was to experiment with new payment models that would reduce costs and improve quality. Instead, like many of Obamacare’s promises, it led to the opposite result.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, CMMI increased federal spending. $5.4 billion From 2011 to 2020. The agency is estimated to cost taxpayers another $1.3 billion by 2030. Instead of saving money, it has become a vast, unaccountable bureaucracy that imposes experimental mandatory payment models on millions of seniors – sometimes without their consent and often without any clear benefit.
And the public has taken notice. a fresh voting The survey, conducted by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, found overwhelming disappointment among voters with CMMI’s failures. 61 percent said any CMMI model that fails to generate savings should be eliminated. More than three-quarters expressed concern that CMMI gives the federal government too much control over individual health care decisions.
At a time when voters want health care freedom and choice, CMMI represents its opposite: Washington-driven mandates and centralized decision-making processes. For conservatives and those who believe in America First, this should be no easy thing. If Republicans want to show that they are serious about reducing bureaucracy and restoring patient control, repealing the CMMI is the clearest, most immediate step they can take.
This is also smart politics. With the 2026 midterms on the horizon, Republicans have an opportunity to demonstrate that their opposition to Obamacare is more than rhetoric. They can point to a track record: repealing the individual mandate penalty, the Cadillac tax, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, and the medical device tax. Repealing the CMMI would give them another tangible accomplishment to take to voters – a proof point that they are doing what they promised: fighting government overreach and protecting patients.
Furthermore, eliminating CMMI would help clear the way for real innovation driven by doctors, patients, and the private sector — not by bureaucrats in Washington experimenting with people’s care. Competition, choice, and flexibility come from empowering individuals, not from federally set “models” that often restrict the way providers treat their patients.
CMMI was designed in the Obama era, for the Obama era. It has failed in its mission, wasted taxpayers’ money, and expanded federal control over health care. It needs to be ended before it does any more damage.
As Congress negotiates a health care package to deal with expiring Obamacare subsidies, GOP lawmakers should make their move to repeal CMMI. Remove it from the books. Turn it off. Send this leftover piece of Obamacare right back to where it belongs – on the ash heap of failed federal experiments.
Americans want accountability. They want options. And they want leaders who take action. Repealing CMMI gives Republicans a chance to accomplish all three.
