The GOP's nightmare scenario is playing out in its Obamacare lawsuit

[riversedge]

Opinion
The GOP’s nightmare scenario is playing out in its Obamacare lawsuit9*rewsqca

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/enterthefray/la-ol-obamacare-lawsuit-preexisting-conditions-20190710-story.html


By Jon HealeyDeputy Editorial Page Editor
July 10, 2019 3:31 PM

The 2020 election is shaping up to be yet another referendum on healthcare, thanks to a long-shot lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act that has somehow stayed alive in the courts.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans took up the case of Texas vs. Azar on Tuesday, with two of the three jurists suggesting strongly that a now-neutered provision of the law — the mandate that adult Americans obtain insurance coverage — was unconstitutional. So much for the hope that a more senior appeals panel would summarily reject the bizarre lower-court ruling that threw out the entire ACA.

The possible outcomes here tend to be bad for consumers — and worse for Republicans, given that the lawsuit was brought by a group of top Republican officials from 20 states. The panel could declare every section of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, immediately jeopardizing the health coverage of the roughly 20 million Americans who obtained it through the ACA (most thanks to the expansion of Medicaid). Or it could just kill the insurance reforms that are intertwined with the individual mandate, threatening the ability of some 50 million Americans with preexisting conditions to obtain coverage down the road.


Either one of those outcomes would force GOP candidates to defend the attack on a law that grew more popular the closer congressional Republicans came to repealing it. A partial repeal that killed the protections for preexisting conditions would be the worst of all for Republicans, given the public’s overwhelming support for those provisions. And when supporters of the law appealed to the Supreme Court, this particularly noxious aspect of Republican health policy would stay in front of voters well into 2020.

But keep your fingers crossed, Mitch McConnell! The appeals court could rule that the states have no standing to sue because they suffered no injury from Congress’ decision to repeal the tax penalty for those who do not obtain insurance. It’s quite a stretch to suggest that it’s injurious just to be ordered to do something even if there’s no consequence for not complying.

Of course, that’s just what one of the 5th Circuit jurists did suggest. So that’s not a likely outcome.........................................................

[LonePirate]

1. Good luck passing another health care bill with the filibuster in place.

[Midnight Writer]

2. It won't hurt the Republicans at all.

They have 24/7 media machines that will blame it on the Democrats. You already see them claiming they are "protecting coverage for pre-existing conditions" when they are clearly doing the opposite.

Meanwhile, legitimate media are reporting on the horse race on the Democrat side. You don't even hear the candidate's positions at this point, just their poll standings and the "gaffes" of the day.

That leaves saturation advertising spotlighting what the Republicans are doing. For some reason, we haven't done that yet, even when the ads basically write themselves. I see no prospect of us doing it in the future.

Oh. if only i had some of that FU money.