Jack Tame: Republicans fighting dirty till the end

Opinion

"This is a big f***ing deal," Vice President Joe Biden famously said as Barack Obama signed his healthcare reform into law back in 2010. And it is.

From this week, every American will be guaranteed some form of health insurance. Obamacare is as good as settled, yet Republicans are going to greatest-ever extremes to get it canned before enrolment begins on Tuesday.

You actually had to hand it to Ted Cruz. The Texas Senator spoke for 21 hours straight on why Obamacare should be scrapped. There was the Nazi comparison 25 minutes into his speech, and a dubious comparison between stopping the legislation and travelling to the Moon.

Maybe old Ted was getting a bit delusional. I kid you not, in the US Senate he invoked The Little Engine That Could children's book, then explained how to cook proper green eggs and ham. (Apparently you add spinach to the yolks.)

Probably wouldn't hurt Ted to see a doctor. I'm not sure if he has health insurance yet, but if he enrols in the programme he had better be careful what that quack actually wants to do. There are commercials on TV warning Americans about the risk of enrolling in Obamacare. One shows a deranged Uncle Sam performing an unnecessary gynaecological examination. Another has the same creepy guy gloving up to probe a surprised and pants-less young man. "Don't let Government play doctor."

Still, not at crazy as Sarah Palin's claim that state-appointed "death panels" would be deciding on elderly persons' care. Or the myth - believed by some - that Obamacare means people being micro-chipped.

Republicans claim Obamacare is a job-killer. But their refusing to pass a Budget that includes funding for it means the government faces shutdown and, one would think, a whole lot more jobs may be lost.

But this is their final push before Americans become "addicted", as Cruz sees it, to Obamacare subsidies and the bill is set in law forever.

But hang on; why would they become addicted? Oh, maybe because universal healthcare coverage with an individual mandate is actually a practical, humane and economically sensible idea.