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McConnell accuses Obama of 'misleading' public on Obamacare

Sen.
Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to the weekly Republican policy luncheon on April 16, 2013 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to the weekly Republican policy luncheon on April 16, 2013 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.

Sen. Mitch McConnell stepped up his quest to repeal Obamacare with an opinion piece published on Thursday in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the latest in a string of op-eds in recent weeks.

This time around, the Republican leader accused President Obama of “misleading” the American people and issuing “untrue” statements about the law’s implementation.

In “Prepare People for Obamacare,” McConnell argued Democrats “who argued so loudly in favor of this bill” have an “obligation to own up to its consequences in a very public fashion.”

McConnell wrote, “The president has refused repeated Republican calls to take concerns about Obamacare public and prepare the American people for the changes ahead. In fact, on Tuesday, he actually chose to do the exact opposite, saying that ‘this thing's already happened’ for most Americans. ‘Full stop, that's it . . . they don't have to worry about anything else.’”

McConnell slammed that line as "simply untrue, and that kind of misleading statement is only going to cause more Americans to be blindsided when more pieces of the law start to take effect.”

President Obama recently acknowledged potential issues with the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act in the coming months, describing it as “a big undertaking.” At a press conference on Tuesday, he said, “Even if we do everything perfectly, there will still be glitches and bumps.” But he said, “That’s pretty much true of every government program that’s ever been set up."

“Despite all the hue and cry and ‘sky is falling’ predictions about this stuff,” Obama said the “only impact” on those with existing plans will be improvements. “Full stop. They don’t have to worry about anything else. The implementation issues come up for those who don’t have health insurance.”

A tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates there’s mass confusion over the status of Obamacare, with 42% of Americans completely unaware it’s the law of the land. Out of that percentage, 12% believe it was repealed, 7% reported the Supreme Court overturned it and 23% weren’t sure what's really going on with the law.

Despite widespread Republican efforts, the law has not been repealed by Congress, and the Supreme Court voted to uphold the controversial law in a 5-4 decision.