A freshman Republican senator says he will introduce legislation in the coming days that provides an off-ramp for Americans who would be affected by a Supreme Court ruling this summer that could blow a wide hole in Obamacare.
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said conservatives hoping to win the “war” against the Affordable Care Act must offer short-term relief to people who may lose their government subsidies after the justices rule in the case, known as King v. Burwell.
“ObamaCare took these patients hostage. Conservatives have a duty to save them,” he wrote Thursday in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
He said his bill would allow people to keep their chosen health plan, with financial assistance, for an 18-month grace period — akin to COBRA, or the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, a law that allows workers who lose their jobs to keep their health coverage for a while.
Then, the GOP must present a longer-term plan for health reform and turn the 2016 presidential election into a referendum on “two competing visions of health care.”
For now, Republicans are grappling with how to deal with the political fallout of “King,” should the justices this June agree with conservatives and say the health law of 2010 reserved subsidies for exchanges “established by the state.”
Challengers before the court say that should mean the exchanges set up by 16 states and the District of Columbia, while the administration contends Congress never meant to treat states differently.
The administration said it has no executive fix for the “disaster” that would befall customers and insurance markets in 34 states that rely on the federal exchange, should the high court strike down the subsidies that cover 72 percent of monthly premiums, on average.
Mr. Sasse acknowledges that the case is both an opportunity and a political tripwire, as the White House, liberal groups and “President Obama’s cheerleaders in the media” will go after Republicans for killing off coverage, although the GOP insists the administration unlawfully extended the subsidies to HealthCare.gov customers in the first place.
“Because ObamaCare’s central planning is unworkable and unpopular, most states opted not to participate or to establish an exchange. So if the court affirms the law’s actual language over the administration’s incessant political rewriting, it could be a mortal blow to ObamaCare,” he wrote. “But I am also worried that unless those of us who oppose ObamaCare unite behind an approach that offers Americans a better alternative, we could lose the whole war.”
Mr. Sasse’s op-ed offers the most specific plan to date to deal with the case’s potential aftermath. A group of influential GOP senators are set to offer their solution in the coming days, a timeline that may coincide with oral arguments on Wednesday before the court.
They have not revealed many details, so it may or may not dovetail with Mr. Sasse’s plan.
If the subsidies are struck down, Republican governors in federal-exchange states will face pressure to set up an exchange and qualify for Obamacare’s subsidies.
Mr. Sasse, citing some GOP governors’ willingness to embrace Medicaid expansion, fears many governors will “fold” if they do not have an adequate escape route from the Republican majority Congress.
The new pressure will be even more acute, he wrote.
“If governors cave, ObamaCare is never going away,” he said. “ObamaCare’s command-and-control regime will reduce families’ choices, thwart innovation and chart a path of European-style debt and rationed access to health care.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.