So Republicans merely codified what HHS is doing anyway. But some conservatives have become so politically disoriented by ObamaCare that preserving its mistakes is more important than helping Americans hurt by the law. The theory seems to be that “improving” ObamaCare will weaken the coalition for repeal and therefore the economic torture dials should be turned up to 11. If the law is more punitive and dysfunctional, more people will want to get rid of it in toto.

But the reality is that the law can’t be repealed until President Obama leaves office in 2017. Patience is less a virtue than a necessity, and rooting for voters to be harmed is not a helpful electoral coping strategy. A better political strategy is to offer an agenda going into the 2014 election that addresses the damage ObamaCare is doing to the individual and small-business insurance markets until a larger fix is possible…

We support repealing ObamaCare as much as anyone, but that shouldn’t mean refusing to make the law less destructive to the businesses that create the most jobs. The GOP ought to run on what progress the party is making against an implacable White House, not apologize for it.