Is Obamacare's success threatening his House speakership?
Obamacare is fast losing its political toxicity, as is apparent in the dwindling Republican attacks on it on the campaign trail and in ads. But an even more telling anecdote that Republicans have given up on it is
related by Jonathon Chait, who gleaned it from a
National Review editorial.
It seems that there was a behind-the-scenes fight among House Republicans over having yet another Obamacare repeal vote. This one would repeal the risk corridor provision. That's the temporary program that created a fund that insurance companies pay into if they end up enrolling a very healthy population of new people, and have excess profits. That money would be paid out to insurance companies who ended up with a disproportionate amount of sicker, more expensive people. The National Review found out about this fight, which apparently hasn't been resolved, and the magazine is doing its best to bolster the repeal crowd. Chait:
[T]he fascinating thing is that Republicans in Congress are now encountering resistance to attacking the "Obamacare bailout" from their own party. "Some Republicans say that the insurance companies should not be penalized for the defects of the law," comments the frustrated conservative magazine. "The balkers also raise the worry that Democrats would accuse them of trying to cause premiums to increase."
All this is a way of saying that Republicans in Congress worry about passing bills that would harm consumers and companies that are participating in Obamacare. The repeal of risk corridors is, of course, just a "message bill"—President Obama obviously would not sign it—which makes the reluctance all the more telling. Vulnerable Republicans have calculated that the message no longer helps them. It mobilizes more potential victims against them than it mobilizes potential anti-Obamacare voters. National Review’s editorial concludes, "If Republicans aren't willing to break with the insurers over this issue, then in what sense do they oppose Obamacare?"
That's the million dollar question. And Republicans don't have an answer. Now that Obamacare is working, millions of people are covered and insurance companies who sat out the first year are now joining the exchanges, repeal just doesn't cut it. Even some Republicans are starting to realize that. All their big anti-Obamcare dreams are crumbling to dust. And so far, they don't have a back-up plan.