Conservative groups are suspicious of GOP plans to temporarily keep Obamacare’s insurance subsidies flowing if they’re blocked this summer by the Supreme Court.
For years, groups such as Club for Growth, Heritage Action and Americans for Prosperity have hounded Congress to do all it can to undermine the Affordable Care Act. At times, lawmakers have even been forced to table Obamacare-related bills over complaints that they appeared to be improving the law instead of repealing it entirely.
Now there’s a chance the Supreme Court could throw a huge wrench in the law by ruling that a majority of the law’s insurance subsidies for low- and middle-income Americans are illegal. Worried that they’d be blamed for people losing subsidies midyear — and not being able to afford their health coverage — Republicans have floated some contingency plans to temporarily preserve the financial assistance.
The proposals all aim to replace the healthcare law’s main elements with Republican ideas. But conservative groups are less than enthused about continuing any subsidies at all.
“Conservatives should not prejudge the court’s decision or overreact by embracing elements of a law they were all elected to repeal,” said Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action.
None of the groups have yet said whether they’ll oppose or support specific efforts. But they’ve disliked Obamacare’s subsidies all along, and extending them — even if it’s temporary — wouldn’t achieve their goals of doing away with the law altogether, they say.
“I think we can safely say that Club for Growth has always had concerns about the subsidy portion of Obamacare, along with the rest of Obamacare,” said the group’s spokesman Doug Sachtleben.
He said the group wants to see more specific details about the GOP contingency plans before casting final judgment, even though at this point it’s “concerned about the subsidies.”
Levi Russell, a spokesman for Americans for Prosperity, said his group is “evaluating plans as they come out.” But if the Supreme Court blocks the subsidies, the group won’t support extending them, he said.
It’s already doubtful that the Republican-led Congress would be able to respond in a unified way should the court block the subsidies in the case King v. Burwell. The lawsuit challenges the Obama administration’s decision to award insurance subsidies through online insurance marketplaces in 37 states, saying the 2010 healthcare law prohibits it.
And if the conservative groups that helped get Republicans elected come out strongly against the GOP response plans, that puts those plans on even shakier ground.
Republican leaders directed select members in January to come up with contingency plans. One trio of lawmakers in the Senate — and another in the House — have drawn broad outlines of plans they’re calling “bridges” or “off-ramps” to Obamacare.
A proposal from Sens. Orrin Hatch, Lamar Alexander and John Barrasso would give states the flexibility to create “more competitive” health insurance markets offering more choices but doesn’t detail how to accomplish that.
Another framework from Reps. Paul Ryan, John Kline and Fred Upton would ditch the law’s mandatory insurance benefits and its individual and employer mandates to get covered and includes some longstanding Republican ideas like allowing insurance purchases across state lines.
The only detailed proposal that’s been introduced so far is from freshman Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who wants to ensure low-income Americans continue getting help with coverage through giving them Cobra benefits which would eventually phase out.
Dubbing his plan the “Winding Down Obamacare Act,” Sasse emphasizes that it’s intended to move Congress closer to repealing the law. “I believe we should never do anything to fix Obamacare in Congress and we should never do anything to expand Obamacare in the states,” Sasse said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
But no conservative groups have yet signed onto his plan. Kevin Broughton, a spokesman for the Tea Party Patriots, said there are things about the Sasse plan the group likes and things “we’re not sure about.”
Republicans are currently working on building some consensus around the House and Senate proposals, to get to the point where more specific legislation could be introduced. A Ryan spokesman said members will release more details about their plan before the Supreme Court hands down a King decision in June.
Some on the Hill are more optimistic about approving a response to a potential ruling striking the subsidies, even if it doesn’t involve repealing the entire health care law — something President Obama has said he won’t sign.
“I think Republicans are finally realizing we can’t scrap this law while President Obama is still in office,” said one Republican aide.
