There is a lot of truth to this. When some government program is enacted, beneficiaries will fight tooth and nail to preserve it. To eradicate it, they would say, is tantamount to "sentencing people to death" in the case of Obamacare (patently ridiculous, but that's politics). Then, if benefits are expanded, the support for the government program goes up even further -- and the national debt does too. That's why it's so important to fend off proposals for increasing the government, before they become law. Once something is enacted, it is very difficult to get rid of it. That said, Obamacare has taken some serious blows -- the loss of the individual tax mandate, and the loss of federal subsidies to insurance programs have dealt it....maybe not a death blow. But it's seemingly on the mat. Whether it can be totally overturned? Not sure. It will be difficult, for the reasons you suggest.