King v. Burwell: We are all following the Supreme Court case challenging the Administration's ignoring of the ObamaCare requirement that individuals can only get Federal subsidies for their health insurance if the state in which they reside forms a state exchange. Only sixteen states organized state exchanges, yet the Obama administration determined to pay Federal subsidies to individuals in every state if they purchased health insurance under ObamaCare.
There are some eight million individuals who will lose their subsidies if the Supreme Court determines to enforce the law as written by Congress. (One wonders what good it is to have a Supreme Court if they were to ignore the language of the legislation passed by Congress. Recall that Congress has had half a decade to correct any language in ObamaCare with which it is dissatisfied.)
The optics and politics of King v. Burwell belong with Lewis Carroll in his famous offering of Alice In Wonderland. My favorite quote therein: “But it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” The President is unwilling to either admit the responsibility for this debacle belongs to him or to work with Republicans to fix it. It is as if the President would prefer to walk across the street to get into a fight rather than try to stay in the White House and collegially work to fix problems with ObamaCare.
What is beyond any reason is that the main stream media seems intent to blame any problems that would result from the Supreme Court case on Republicans.
The Republicans hardly rose to the standard of bystanders when the law was written. Republicans were not allowed to participate in the discussions or propose amendments to ObamaCare in Congress. They were forced to play the role of the potted plant by parliamentary maneuvers through Harry Reid.
Nancy Pelosi provided the substance of the Democratic Congress and President's signature achievement when she told us Congress would have to pass the bill to know what is in it. The bill and its long term ramifications belong to the President and his political party. they had the power of the pen and they chose to write the law the way they wrote the law. The ObamaCare bill does not reveal the fingerprints of a single Republican. The Democratic Party owns the coming hysteria as Obamacare drove out every insurance plan that was a reasonable alternative to ObamaCare. The Democrats allowed the forest of health insurance to be clear cut leaving no options except ObamaCare, a piece of legislation probably most remarkable for its sloppiness.
Today, Josh Ernest representing the President, indicated that the Administration had no contingency plans if the Supreme Court rules against the Administration. As Colin Powell said: "once you break the egg, you own it." It is the President who should be blamed and it is the President who should be leaving the golf course and proposing legislation which would be acceptable to Republicans.
The fix is easy. The subsidies should be extended for six months to a year so no one actually gets hurt. During that period, the ObamaCare regulations that closed the insurance markets should be withdrawn and the legislation regarding previous ailments should be reintroduced and passed. Finally, it should be legal to sell insurance across state lines. This should re-open the insurance markets.
And this should come from the President. He promoted terrible legislation. His political party passed terrible legislation. He should not hide in the blame game where all of the blame is his with none to share except with his political party.