Presidential primaries are far more important than the health of people in Wisconsin to Gov. Scott Walker. Thus, he's taking a hard line on Obamacare,
refusing any state action should the Supreme Court strike down subsidies for people who purchase health insurance on the federal exchange. And as Scott Walker goes, so goes Republican governors everywhere.
Scott Walker has now supplied yet another piece of evidence that Republicans will likely find themselves unable or unwilling to act if the Supreme Court guts Obamacare subsidies for millions in three dozen states. In the process, he’s illustrated how such a Court ruling will likely set in motion a mad frenzy of buck-passing among Republicans over what to do about all those people—and how that might spill over into the 2016 presidential race.
A spokesperson for Walker has now confirmed that should the Court rule that way, he will not view it as the state’s responsibility to fix the problem that results—and instead says that responsibility will fall to the federal government.
That's about 185,000 Wisconsinites who could lose their insurance. The Obama administration has
ruled out an administrative fix, and any executive action would probably just end up with Republicans suing and refusing to cooperate, anyway. No one really believes
a Republican Congress will do anything.
This potentially could, as Greg Sargent argues, put enough political pressure on Walker to do something about it. But how likely is that when his new full-time job is taking actions that will endear him to Republican primary and caucus voters? He doesn't need Wisconsin for his next step—trying to secure the Republican nomination for 2016.