One gets the feeling that
King v. Burwell has become one gigantic headache for the Republicans who egged it on. The case that challenges subsidies to people who bought Obamacare insurance on the federal exchange they were
crowing over just six months ago has become a source of real dread. Even the so-called House "Freedom Caucus," the far-right of the extremist right, is thinking that maybe
something should be done to stave off the disaster of Republicans being blamed when people lose their insurance.
Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus told The Hill they are setting up a group of four or five lawmakers, led by Rep. John Fleming (R-La.). The lawmakers will develop a plan meant to influence the main House working group led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and two other panel chairmen, which Fleming complained is meeting in "secret."
While working on their own ideas, Freedom Caucus members are also open to something like Sen. Ron Johnson's (R-Wis.) idea to temporarily extend subsidies.
Johnson's plan would extend ObamaCare subsidies through August 2017, when he hopes there will be a Republican president, while also repealing the law's individual and employer mandates.
Well, why the hell not. Every Republican and his or her dog seemingly has some plan in the works, though most of them aren't really plans at all, but veto-bait because they all include a repeal of the mandate, the linchpin to making any kind of insurance reform work. The only way any bill passes the House has to contain a repeal of the mandate, at the very least. And anything containing that repeal will be vetoed by President Obama, which would then give Republicans the ability to blame the whole mess on him and carry on as usual. With millions of their constituents out of luck.
It's becoming crystal clear that what Republicans fear isn't the possibility of their voters losing health insurance. It's that they'll be blamed for it.
