Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says states should not bolster Obamacare in any way if the Supreme Court decides to strike down the law’s subsidies in at least 34 states.
The likely GOP presidential candidate said the White House will be squarely to blame if the justices say the wording of the Affordable Care Act limited the tax credits to the handful of states that set up their own insurance exchanges.
In fact, he said Mr. Obama should “admit his failure” and “do the right thing” by repealing his own law and working with congressional Republicans to replace it.
“The decision will be a turning point,” Mr. Walker wrote in an op-ed for CNN. “States didn’t create this problem, Washington did. Governors across the country have been clear: If the Supreme Court strikes down the Obama executive overreach, we will not bail out Obama at the expense of the American people. We will not set up state exchanges under the rules of Obamacare.”
Mr. Walker, who is expected to officially enter the 2016 race in the coming weeks, is evoking a common theme among Republican watchers of the court challenge known as King v. Burwell, which will be decided as early as Thursday.
States that rely on the federal HealthCare.gov portal will be tempted to set up their own Obamacare exchanges to remain eligible for subsidies.
Republicans in Congress don’t want states to further entrench Obamacare, so they’re crafting ways to rescue more than 6 million Americans who could lose their subsidies under the ruling, while moving away from the president’s overhaul.
Mr. Walker acknowledged that 184,000 of his constituents could lose their subsidies, and that it would be “a big problem.” But he did not prescribe a solution, saying it was up to the administration to have a backup plan and then rip up its own law.
“It’s clear Obamacare must be repealed and replaced with a plan that puts patients and their families back in charge,” he wrote.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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