The first "blood and teeth left on the floor" Democrats must wage against Donald Trump and his congressional Republican minions is going to be over Obamacare. Republicans seem poised to follow the "repeal and delay" tactic they cooked up after the election, hoping to buy themselves some time to come up with something, anything for a replacement. Democrats' job—reminding the public what they're losing and who is destroying it.
Democrats are warning that repealing President Obama's signature healthcare law would lead to tens of millions of Americans losing their healthcare coverage and affect Medicare and Medicaid. Since Republicans will have the power to dismantle the major pillars of the law, Democrats are trying to protect it by touting all of its benefits.
"This is not just about the 20 million previously uninsured who now have health security," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said during a call with reporters Monday. "But this is about the 75 percent of American people who get their health benefits through their workplace -- not through the ACA." […]
"If the ACA were to be repealed, tens of millions of Americans lose their coverage," House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland said Monday during the press call. "And tens of millions of others will see their healthcare costs skyrocket."
Hoyer bashed a plan that was recently floated by Republicans that would involve Congress passing a repeal plan, but delaying its effective date for at least a few years while a replacement plan can be developed.
"Republicans' so-called 'repeal and delay' plan is code for 'repeal without an alternative,'" Hoyer said.
There are even some Republicans who've noticed that, like Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander and Bill Cassidy who have all argued that there should be some kind of replacement plan ready before repeal. Not that they actually have a plan, mind you (Paul says "freedom," but other than that doesn't have much to offer).
The only path Democrats have before them is to fight repeal and then let Republicans flounder. They will own this impending disaster.