Tea Party Darling Marco Rubio And 35 Other Candidates Sign Pledge To Repeal Health Care Reform »

As part of the GOP's all-out-effort to repeal health care reform, the Club For Growth is asking lawmakers and candidates in the 2010 elections to "pledge to the people of my district/state to sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government." At least 17 lawmakers and 36 candidates have signed onto the repeal, including Florida "Tea Party" candidate Marco Rubio. "The proposed government takeover of health care being rammed through Congress runs contrary to the principles of limited government that have made Americans the freest and most prosperous people ever," Rubio said:

Unfortunately, Rubio's arguments against reform are as specious as his "constitutionality" claims. The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that reform would result in "no significant change" in the federal government's commitment to health care, and constitutional scholars from across the country argue that the Commerce Clause "permits Congress to regulate commerce, or actions that directly affect economic activity," such as requiring Americans to purchase health insurance coverage.

The GOP's health care industry-funded constitutional push is designed to attract campaign cash and get-out-the vote, but should their efforts succeed, the "pledging lawmakers" would be undermining the interests of their constituents. After all, the CBO has estimated that reform would insure as many as 31 million Americans and lower premiums for subsidized Americans in the exchange. A back-of-the envelope analysis conducted by ThinkProgress reveals that on average, the constituencies of the lawmakers and candidates who have signed the Club For Growth's repeal pledge, have experienced higher than average premium increases, rates of uninsurance and annual percent growth in health care expenditures and insurance market concentration: