GOP House member compares healthcare law to TV's Boss Hogg

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) on Tuesday compared the 2010 healthcare law to Boss Hogg, the crooked commissioner of the fictional Hazzard County, Ga., in the 1970s TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard."

Speaking on the House floor, Gingrey said Jefferson Davis Hogg, known as Boss Hogg for short, terrorized the county with the help of henchmen like Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane.

"Today, life imitates art," Gingrey said. "We now have another boss in our midst. I call this boss 'ObamaCare.' "

"The only healthcare that citizens of this country can access are those approved by the boss," Gingrey said. "If you like what you currently have, you can't keep it, according to the boss. The boss and his henchmen, who help fund this tyranny, they include the biggest permanent tax increase on Americans, borne in large part by middle-class families and the employers who give the jobs."

Gingrey also noted the $500 billion cut in Medicare that was needed to fund the 2010 law, and that the law puts in place new rules "from the boss" about how doctors can practice medicine.

"Our forefathers rejected tyranny and so should we," he said. "Let's get rid of the boss once and for all."

Gingrey spoke near the start of debate on H.R. 6079, which would repeal the 2010 healthcare reform law. The House was expected to approve the bill Wednesday.

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