Republicans have no idea how to replace Obamacare and continue some semblance of care for the 20 million people the law covers, so they've come up with a solution: delayed implementation on steroids.
That's right—Obamacare is so “unpopular” that the GOP is trying to avoid backlash at the polls by delaying the effects of implementing it, potentially until after the next presidential election. Sahil Kapur writes:
Republicans are debating how long to delay implementing the repeal. Aides involved in the deliberations said some parts of the law may be ended quickly, such as its regulations affecting insurer health plans and businesses. Other pieces may be maintained for up to three or four years, such as insurance subsidies and the Medicaid expansion. Some parts of the law may never be repealed, such as the provision letting people under age 26 remain on a parent’s plan.
House conservatives want a two-year fuse for the repeal. Republican leaders prefer at least three years, and there has been discussion of putting it off until after the 2020 elections, staffers said.
Sheer cowardice! Talk about trying to untether themselves from the damage they will inflict on tens of millions of Americans. They repeal it, they own it! Doesn't matter how long they delay implementation in order to lay the blame at someone else's doorstep.
As journalist David Dayden points out, the immediate parts of the GOP repeal will likely apply to the tax increases that help pay for the subsidies and Medicaid expansions. In other words, he writes, the GOP repeal "is best thought of as a tax cut bill."
Meanwhile Republicans are unleashing messaging charging that Obamacare is imploding from within—as if they won't be the healthcare killers for 20 million Americans who have gotten insurance under the law.
To cushion the political blow of upending the system, party leaders are putting out a stream of statements portraying Obamacare as collapsing on its own.
But the Department of Health and Human Services reported that signups reached 6.4 million by the Dec. 19 deadline, an increase of 400,000 over the previous year’s number at this time. Earlier, President Barack Obama said that more than 670,000 Americans signed up for coverage on Dec. 15, "the biggest day ever for Healthcare.gov."
Perfect, so they're lying about the law's demise while they prepare to ensure its demise but delay the political blowback until after the midterms and maybe even 2020.
Remember all that hyped up talk by conservatives of death panels back in the day—perhaps it was prescient in a manner of speaking. The GOP is laying the groundwork for a healthcare disaster that they'll try to pin on somebody else. Whether or not voters figure it out, they will have blood on their hands if America's healthcare system collapses while they owned the government.
