I admit that when this particular health care legislation was first passed and signed, I was not an immediate fan. As a consumer who has never been fond of the insurance industry, I would have preferred something that eliminated the middleman. As a small business owner, I was concerned that employers were expected to provide health insurance for their workers. As a freedom-loving American, I just didnt like the sound of that individual mandate to purchase insurance.

But then as I learned more about the details of the new law, I became cautiously optimistic about it. I found out that most people, who already had health care coverage through their employers or on their own, would be able to keep what they had. I learned that businesses with just a few employees were exempt from the requirement of providing insurance, and that new tax credits were being given to employers that offered coverage. I was glad to discover that the government was providing health insurance for people who were below 150% of the federal poverty line, that there was a sliding scale payment plan for people with income above that range, that young people would be covered automatically up to age 26, and that even that seemingly onerous individual mandate would not apply to people with low incomes.

Now in case you made the assumption that I have been talking all along about my early impressions of Obamacare, let me correct you on that point. Everything I just described relates to my initial reactions to the health care plan which was passed in Massachusetts and signed into law by then-Governor Romney four years before it was used as a prototype for the federal Affordable Care Act. In a more sane political climate, Romney might be complaining that President Obama has stolen his ideas, but instead Romney now vows to repeal the very set of programs that he initiated and at one time supported. Moreover, his pledge to repeal the federal law reveals a hubris and a lack of understanding of how our constitutional government works, especially now that the Supreme Court has upheld the central tenets of the law.

Whoever the next president is, he will not be able to repeal existing legislation without the support of at least 60 U.S. Senators, and no reasonable political prognosticator expects Republicans to reach that filibuster-proof margin in the next Congress. So one way or another, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay, no matter how many times the House wastes taxpayer time and money by voting to repeal it.

The other inconvenient truth for Romney and Republicans is that the Massachusetts plan is actually working. About 95% of Massachusetts residents now have health care coverage, which ranks their state as the best in the country. That makes Massachusetts even better than second-ranked Hawaii, which is Rush Limbaughs favorite spot for emergency health care outside of Costa Rica, which actually does have socialized medicine. Compare Massachusetts with Texas, which is currently the worst state for coverage, at only about 75%, and then scratch your head when you hear Texas Governor Rick Perry vow to fight those pesky federal funds that would provide 95% of the money his state needs to expand Medicaid coverage to the 150% poverty level for Texans. Good rabble-rousing, Rick, but lousy policy-making, and downright dumb fiscally to leave all that money lying on the table.

Thankfully, Oregon is proceeding more wisely and is now ahead of the curve in developing our own insurance exchange. When added to our Healthy Kids program, having a state insurance exchange should enable Oregonians to begin reaping the benefits of expanded federal coverage sooner than more obstinate states.

While the federal health care law is still not wildly popular, even among liberals, who would have preferred either a single-payer system or a program like Medicare for all, the necessity of building political alliances determined that this legislation was the furthest that Congress, the health care industry, and the public were willing and able to go at this time in our nations history to expand health care coverage. And if you break the law into its many components, you find out that most people like the expanded Medicaid, the coverage of young adults, the reduction of the doughnut hole for seniors, the tax incentives for businesses, and the fact that insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. As these benefits kick in, the public will come around slowly, which of course is the worst nightmare scenario for Republican politicians.

John McColgan owns and operates two small businesses in Joseph.