GOP’s big health care plan: Say “freedom” a lot and let states figure something out

[DonViejo]

Three GOP senators insist that Republicans have a post-King v. Burwell "plan," but the details are nonexistent

SIMON MALOY

We’re just two days out from oral arguments in King v. Burwell, the Supreme Court case that will decide the future of the Affordable Care Act’s insurance subsidies in the majority of states, and Congressional Republicans are seizing what opportunities remain to work the refs. The GOP rightly views King v. Burwell as its last, best chance for doing significant damage to the law, but the party’s enthusiasm is tempered a bit by the knowledge that a ruling against the ACA will result in millions of people either losing insurance or paying significantly more for coverage. As such, the Republican strategy is to project to the world (more specifically, the court’s conservative justices) the GOP’s readiness to mitigate that fallout. They want to “make the world safe for [Chief Justice John] Roberts to overturn” the subsidies, as one conservative health policy advisor told TPM’s Sahil Kapur in January.

To that end, Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch, John Barrasso, and Lamar Alexander authored a Washington Post Op-Ed published over the weekend that bore the headline “We have a plan for fixing healthcare.” The three Republicans wrote in the lede that if the court rules against the ACA, then “Republicans have a plan to protect Americans harmed by the administration’s actions.” And just in case you were at all unclear whether or not Republicans have a plan, they wrote it again two paragraphs later: “Republicans have a plan to create a bridge away from Obamacare.”

So what is this great and wonderful thrice-declared plan? It’s tough to say. All we know for sure from reading the Hatch, Barrasso, Alexander Op-Ed is that the plan has two parts. Here’s what they write:

First and most important: We would provide financial assistance to help Americans keep the coverage they picked for a transitional period. It would be unfair to allow families to lose their coverage, particularly in the middle of the year.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/02/gops_big_health_care_plan_say_freedom_a_lot_and_let_states_figure_something_out/

[ck4829]

1. "Freedom for disease! Freedom for pre-existing conditions! Freedom to turn the sick away!"

If Republicans told the truth.

[Justice]

2. To be clear - when they say "we" they mean Hatch, Barrasso and Alexander, not the GOP

[tridim]

3. They will provide no "fix" and blame it ALL on the President.

The media will happily report such.

If you believe anything else you haven't been paying attention.

[blkmusclmachine]

4. Death Panels.