Posted on 02/26/2015 8:16:20 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
A Republican House subcommittee chairman is accusing the Obama administration of secretly preparing a fallback strategy if the Supreme Court strikes down a major piece of the healthcare later this year, even as officials publicly maintain that no plan exists.
Pitts plans to confront the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about the plans, which he says are being circulated among senior officials, for the first time on Wednesday.
HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said for the first time on Tuesday that the White House has “no plans” if the court strikes down healthcare subsidies in 37 states.
"We know of no administrative actions that could, and therefore we have no plans that would, undo the massive damage to our health care system that would be caused by an adverse decision," Burwell wrote in a letter sent to several GOP offices, including Pitts’s.
Her remarks are a direct warning to the justices one week before they will hear the case. If the Obama administration loses its case, roughly 7 million people could immediately lose their coverage. Nearly $30 billion in subsidies could be lost in 2016 alone.
With such high stakes, Republicans say the administration is surely preparing some way to avert the impending disaster.
"It's hard to fathom that the administration would bury its head in the sand and fail to engage in any contingency planning," Pitts wrote in a statement Wednesday ahead of the hearing.
"No credible person would believe that," Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) told The Hill on Wednesday.
"It would be executive malpractice not to have a plan, a contingency plan, for what happens when that court ruling comes down and I'm going to assume that this government doesn't practice executive malpractice,” he said.
The administration has already faced strong pressure from Republicans to show its hand ahead of the Supreme Court case.
Burwell’s appearance before the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month erupted into a contentious back-and-forth in which she refused to answer any questions about the court challenge. By the end of the two-hour exchange, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) accused Burwell of acting in contempt of Congress.
Republicans have seized on the administration’s refusal to discuss the case as further evidence against ObamaCare.
"By admitting they have no contingency plan to assist the millions that may lose subsidies, the administration confirms how the misguided law is unworkable for the American people," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wrote in a recent statement.
The administration’s silence is likely part of its strategy to influence the court ahead of the March 4 arguments.
Two former HHS officials have previously said they are confident the administration is preparing a backup plan.
“Of course, they have one, they should all resign if they don’t,” said Tom Scully, an HHS official under former President George W. Bush. “And they certainly should not discuss it either.”
But the former officials said the Obama administration could appear in a weak position if it admitted that it was making plans. And if the administration insists there is no “plan B,” it tells the justices that the country cannot afford a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs.
Republicans have tried to gain points by preparing their own backup plans for the billions of dollars in subsidies that could be lost. This week, Hatch and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) became the latest Republicans to say they are crafting plans.
The GOP largely agrees that Congress should not simply rewrite the text to make the subsidies legal. But the party lacks a consensus about how to deal with the fallout, both in the short-term and long-term, and which area of government should be responsible for those fixes.
“Unless those of us who oppose ObamaCare unite behind an approach that offers Americans a better alternative, we could lose the whole war,” Sasse wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published late Wednesday.
If the Court invalidates Obamacare then Obama will defy the court openly or he will rename his system and change some of the graphics and continue it all, or he will unilaterally institute full on single-payer. Congress will make noise but will not resist. Because there will be no resistance from the Republicans Obama can do whatever he damned well pleases and will.
If the USSC sides with the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell, the Republicans will immediately politically OWN all the problems with the US healthcare system.
If Obama announces tomorrow that ISIS will take over the EPA, Republicans will talk crap and do nothing.
This decision will not invalidate anything except the subsidies and if they rule that way, then people will have to pay or pay the penalty going forward. I doubt anything will be invoked retroactively as the money is spent. I don’t see anything going away because of this.
> Republicans have tried to gain points by preparing their own backup plans for the billions of dollars in subsidies that could be lost.
What?!
Nonsense!
Democrats wrote and passed the law. Democrats own ALL problems.
Bla, bla, bla, bla and bla... all they do is flap their gums and it all comes to nothing. The pubbies have just as much power in the congress and spinate as the dems have had and yet they do noting with it.
Worthless. Just a show to placate stupid people.
That’s not right babble-on. If the court sides with plaintiffs, it is the the dems who will try to make the repubs own the problems of the system.
If the court sides with the plaintiffs, it is the repubs who will have an opportunity to undo 0bamacare and institute market-based reforms. Via reconciliation or with the filibuster rule gone.
There is no “Plan B” because CJ Roberts is owned lock, stock and barrel by the Obama Administration. IOW, there is no need for “Plan B”. Roberts will do as he is told and rule for the Administration.
Obama is brilliant. No plan B means if this is struck down the health care system will collapse.
In other words, you have to dismiss the case because Obamacare is too big to fail.
American Kabuki theater ... ain’t it grand?
You don’t understand public opinion. I’m not talking about reality, I’m talking about politics.
The Republicans can concoct an alternative system and pass it into law, and elect a president who will sign it. But then they’ll own that system too.
Politically the best thing for Republicans is to have Obamacare in place and have over half the population hating it for one reason or another.
Aren’t there already Moslem Brotherhood types in the upper levels of the EPA?
It’s what you make it. Don’t be like McConnell.
Personally I am tired of it.
I went past being tired of it a few years ago, when I realized just how badly Bush junior sold out the Constitution for the oligarchs of which he and his family are members in good standing. ... I’d still like to know what that was in the sky over Stephenville, TX which was headed at high speed right for the Crawford Ranch. It might have been one of ours, but if it was not then maybe Bush has sold out to an even more sinister power.
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