Do Republicans really want to win their Obamacare fight?
Since the Affordable Care Act became the law of the land, the Republican Party has staked its identity on opposing it. Dozens of House votes. Multiple court challenges. A refusal of many Republican governors to participate in Medicaid expansion.
But what if they're really successful at bringing it down? What happens to Republicans if, all of a sudden, they don't have the health care law to kick around anymore? What if Republicans become the dog that catches the car it's been chasing? What do they do then?
When lawmakers passed the Affordable Care Act, they believed that the states would all participate in the law and set up their own health exchanges. But in an otherwise favorable ruling for the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court ruled that the states weren't required to create their own exchanges. And some of them – Louisiana included – have not. So the feds set up exchanges in those states.
Does the federal government count as a state? If the Supreme Court says it does, then nothing changes. And the Republicans can maintain their fist-shaking at the law. If the Supreme Court says, no, the federal government does not count as a state, then lots of people who have purchased health care coverage through the federal government's exchange could lose it.
Read more: http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2015/06/republican_opposition_obamacar.html
