Obamacare could create quandary for Republicans before 2016 election

Reuters ^ | June 24, 2015 | BY JOHN WHITESIDES

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Obamacare could put Republicans in a bind in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election if the U.S. Supreme Court in the next week upends part of the law designed to make healthcare accessible to all Americans, leaving millions to fend for themselves for health insurance.

Presidential battleground states such as Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and North Carolina will be among the states with residents who lose their subsidies, heightening the political impact.

Republicans who have long fought the law could begin to look hard-hearted and ineffectual if they ignore what is certain to be an explosion of stories about Americans losing health insurance.

And by virtue of their roles in Congress, Republican presidential contenders Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, all U.S. senators, would be smack in the middle of the political battle.

[RKBA Democrat]

That the gop views obamacare as a “quandary” and wants to figure out a way to subsidize it if it dies within the week tells you pretty much all you need to know about them.

[RKBA Democrat]

You’re slandering the reputation of worthless douchebags by comparing them to the gop wing of the uniparty.

[Political Junkie Too]

Scare them for lying to those who elected them. Some say that they turned mean because of what happened to Cantor. We either live under their thumb, or we get mean and vote more of them out.

Looking at the two populations, we have those who didn't have healthcare insurance until the exchanges, and now get socked with higher costs. And then we have those who had plans and doctors they were happy with, and lost them. The latter is likely the more productive population in the middle class, and yet is the one being ignored by Republicans. The leadership is bending over backwards for the newly insured, and casting aside the responsible ones.

It's time to bite back.

-PJ

[RKBA Democrat]

Thoreau a ‘rat poster boy? He never voted, and went to jail for refusing to pay a poll tax.

[ThePatriotsFlag]

Democrats created it (behind LOCKED doors), and they all voted for it without reading it. Not one Republican had ANYTHING to do with it, not ONE VOTE! If the Republicans accept grief on this then they are just Democrats in Republican cloth. What a bunch of traitors, whiners and LOSERS!

[C. Edmund Wright]

biting back? may feel good, accomplishes nothing. The main problems are not the ones who will lose.....

[Pollster1]

There is no quandary. Do the right thing. Let Obamacare die. Let it die now, effective the end of this year, so it’s old news by the time of the election, not that Obamacare’s death will cost the GOP any votes. The people who like being parasites will never vote for a conservative, so those who mind losing this terrible insurance are no big loss.

[Political Junkie Too]

I don't know... What good is a general without colonels, majors, and captains? If you can't unseat Boehner Boehner or McConnell, then target his loyal committee chairs. Target his go-to people. Pull his infrastructure out from under him.

-PJ

[C. Edmund Wright]

But you’re never going to repeal Obama Care without a Republican President and strong majorities in both houses of Congress (even then it may not happen - but it certainly will NOT happen under any other circumstance.)

[Political Junkie Too]

I'm not confident of a repeal of Obamacare, even with a Republican President. There is too much that Boehner and McConnell can do between now and then to cement it in place. I might agree with you if I saw signs of an eager Congress waiting for the chance and helping to set the stage for a 2016 campaign platform on it, but I don't.

-PJ

[C. Edmund Wright]

Wasn’t that your entire point??????? Repeal????

Or was that another poster.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

This would not have been a Republican problem had so-called “Leadership” been pro-active and stayed in front of the story. Again, the dems with the help of the media have framed the issue.

[Political Junkie Too]

My original point was for Republicans to not feel like they have to fix the mess the Democrats created. Nothing that Republicans do will ever be credited to them, and finally getting their legislative fingers into it will forever tie them to it where there is no tie today. That tie will open them up to receive all the future blame.

My original point was that this article was psyops designed to coerce Republicans into taking the action instead of letting the chips fall where they may.

Our immediate dialog pointed to two constituencies driving the actions of Republicans: those newly covered, and those thrown off of their previous coverage. I think you said that the former would not vote for Republicans, and I said that the latter were the Republicans' abandoned base. I then suggested that the abandoned base might retaliate against the Republicans who exchanged them for the newly covered, by noting for new representation.

You then asked what good would it accomplish, and that's where we strayed. Going down the sidetrack, I suggested targeting the lieutenants if the generals are protected, in order to make them pay for their disloyalty to their base.

But my original point was always to stay out of it and let the Democrats own it.

-PJ