If the mandate were eliminated, wouldn’t the whole thing self-destruct?
It has been for all intents and purposes (no penalty) and it will self-destruct very soon.
The mandate has been eliminated by EO, and Obamacare will consequently self-destruct, for that and other reasons.
President Trump has done what he can via EO, and I presume HHS Secretary Price will be doing the same with his powers.
The HFC cannot produce a bill that the whole House will pass, anymore than Paul Ryan can, apparently.
So we're stuck, and Congress will be seen as a "do nothing" legislature, and the GOP will get hammred in the 2018 midterms, and that'll be the end of anything constructive getting passed.
But, hey, at least some of the HFC might still be there to keep moving the goalposts around the field while the ball is still in the air. That is the testimony of one of its own former members.
How is that any different from Lucy snatching the ball? Is moving the goalposts somehow more principled?
“...wouldn’t the whole thing self-destruct?”
Has Social Security self destructed? Has Medicare self destructed? Has Medicaid self destructed? Check your paycheck on how they are withdrawn. Nothing ain’t gonna be self destructing. Things will be budgeted for. And the cycle continues.