If somebody has a pre-existing condition that would no longer be covered, it becomes a life and seat matter that transcends political ideology.
If pre-existing conditions aren’t covered, some people will oppose ANYTHING, at any cost. IMHO that is the crux. Even someone who knows it’s a socialist cluster^^^, harmful to constitutional liberty and a sleazy give away to insurance companies is still going to fight to defend it if the alternative is dying quickly of untreated/uncovered heart conditions, diabetes or the like.
If someone’s played the game by the rules their entire adult lives, expect intransigence and resistance if you change the rules for them, even if the rules were evil and arbitrary.
I said in my original comment that portability can be addressed separately. And they can do it quickly. That means carrying coverage over from one policy to another. If you’re a diabetic and lose your job and your insurance you need to be able to buy similar coverage on the market. But if you go uninsured and find out you’re diabetic and THEN try to buy insurance you’d be out of luck and should be.
The reason the GOP won't repeal ObamaCare outright is that every single provision of it has an enormous constituency supporting it -- including plenty of people right here on FreeRepublic.
Go back over the last seven years and notice how many posts here on FR say some variation of the following:
"I want the GOP to repeal ObamaCare but they have to protect people with pre-existing conditions."
"I want the GOP to repeal ObamaCare but they have to keep the elimination of lifetime caps on insurance protection."
"I want the GOP to repeal ObamaCare but they have to make insurance companies cover [INSERT MEDICAL CONDITION HERE]."
That's exactly what we're up against, folks ...