As the Supreme Court hears
King v. Burwell, a challenge that could strip the part of the Affordable Care Act that actually makes it affordable for millions of citizens, Senate Republican leadership
says they might not have a fix by the time the court rules in June.
One day before Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell, TPM asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) at his weekly Capitol press conference if the GOP would have bill ready to mitigate the potential health care crisis.
The short answer: We're working on it, but won't commit to anything.
"Well, we won't know what the Court is going to decide probably until June," McConnell said, before turning the mic over to Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair John Barrasso (R-WY), his point person on health care.
Barrasso said, "We're working on a temporary transition for people who may end up losing their insurance as the Supreme Court shows that the president has acted illegally. I don't think anyone really clearly fully anticipated what the Supreme Court was going to do last time. So we have to see exactly what the Supreme Court rules."
"What's the big deal?" Senate Republicans ask. They
might not have to do anything even if the court guts the law, according to some senior members including Lamar Alexander who is supposed to be working on some plan with Barrasso. A month ago, he said he's waiting to see if having millions of people losing subsidies is enough of a "shock to the system" that "we need to think if there's anything we need to do. Maybe there's not."
No, there's no guarantee at all that Republicans will have a plan, not by June, not ever. And if they do decide that they need to cobble a plan together in the Senate, how are they going to get it through a Republican House? There's just a few thoughts for Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy to chew on for the next few months.