House Republicans met Wednesday,
for the first time, on their draft plan for dealing with a Supreme Court ruling that might end health insurance subsidies for more than six million people. The plan these Republicans seem to have settled on would basically
take insurance away from millions more.
The draft House plan would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s requirements that most Americans carry insurance and most employers provide it. The legislation would continue tax credits that discount insurance premiums for more than 6 million people who would be affected by the ruling. […]
House lawmakers said their legislation isn’t intended to be a substantive or permanent replacement for the Affordable Care Act, only a transition plan that would end in two years.
“The press release, legislation” will be ready within moments of a court ruling, Representative Dennis Ross of Florida told reporters after leaving the meeting on the bill. “The day the decision comes back.”
Ross added, “There’s a strong consensus in that room” that the subsidies must be continued in some form “until Republicans can substantively change the law.”
Great, they're giving themselves another two years to come up with a "substantive or permanent replacement" plan. Because five years has clearly not been long enough. In addition to the mandate repeals, the House would "give states the option to build their own insurance exchanges and offer subsidies, using federal money." There's no indication how they intend to pay for that, particularly given the fact that premiums are going to get pretty damned expensive when the mandate ends and younger, healthier people decide not to participate.
The nascent Senate Republican plan would delay the repeal of the mandates, perhaps in recognition of that whole "how would we fund this" thing, since they also extend subsidies. In either case, this is just putting the disaster on a slower course, drawing out the pain. Cutting people off now or six months or 18 months from now isn't going to make much difference in the long run, just how fast the nation's uninsured rate will skyrocket again.