Never let a crisis go to waste:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday offered the latest in a series of Republican ObamaCare alternatives ahead of a Supreme Court ruling that could gut the law.
Cruz’s bill, called the Health Care Choices Act, would allow people to buy health insurance across state lines, long a Republican health policy goal. It would also repeal Title I of ObamaCare, which would undo much of the law, including the mandate to buy insurance, the insurance marketplaces and subsidies to help people afford coverage.
Republicans are looking to show that they have a plan ready if the court strikes down subsidies for around 7.5 million people in the roughly three-dozen states using federally run marketplaces. The court will hear arguments in the case, King v. Burwell, on Wednesday. The Obama administration insists that it does not have a contingency plan and that it will prevail in Court.
Alas, given the Republicans’ general ineptitude — we have to prove we can govern by rolling over for Harry Reid and the minority Democrats! — nothing is a sure bet. McConnell and Boehner could easily manage to lose a tactical engagement to a Girls Scouts troop marching up Capitol Hill. Their most likely response to an Obamacare defeat would be to offer subsidies anyway — anything to keep the senior wing of the Permanent Bipartisan Fusion Party happy.
Still, the chance to jump on King v. Burwell should John Roberts, you know, actually believe Jonathan Gruber’s plain statement that the federal subsidies were deliberately not included in Barrycare in order to encourage the states to get on board with their own exchanges, should not be missed. Deregulation is the way forward, not greater government control. Because you know the Democrats are just itching to impose their “single-payer” goal on the American people, by force if necessary.
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