I'm pretty sure every Republican governor or governor-hopeful in America joins with Kossaks in hoping that the Halbig decision is reversed.
Here's a helpful map showing what will happen if it is not.
Recall that the Roberts' court already took a tilt at gutting Obamacare by ruling that states could opt out of the Medicaid expansion. That was brutal on poor people. But if Halbig stands, it is going to hit working and middle class people - hard. That is going to be one hell of a tightrope for Republican lawmakers to walk.
7 states with Republican governors have already expanded Medicaid (Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and North Dakota). The Republican governors of Indiana, Pennsylvania and Utah are working on face-saving mechanisms that will allow them to do the same. Three other states with Democratic governors but a Republican or split legislatures have already done the same (Arkansas, Kentucky and New Hampshire).
That's a lot of caving in just for a program that only helps poor folks.
So what happens if Halbig stands and working and middle class people in red states find that Republicans have imposed a tax increase on them that isn't being suffered by working and middle class people in blue states?
For example: how does Scott Walker explain to the voters of Wisconsin that it is in their best interests to experience a 70% rate hike that isn't being imposed on their neighbors over the state line in Minnesota?
For Republicans, this is a lose-lose proposition. If they continue to decry Obamacare as an abomination they cannot participate in - in other words, continue to refuse to set up their own state exchange - they are raising taxes on their voters. If they cave, they alienating their base and prove how wrong the centerpiece of Republican rhetoric is.
Republicans governors and state legislatures are will either have to cave in and set up an exchange to participate in Obamacare or go to the electoral stake praising the tough love of Republican stewardship as the flaming ballots mount around them.
Apologies for the hot mess of mixed metaphors in this diary.