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 But the White House, perhaps sensing a chance to blame Republicans
for trouble, is showing no outward signs of crafting a contingency
plan in case of an adverse outcome in King v. Burwell, expected to
be ruled on by the end of this month.
The outcome could mean millions of Americans, many of them
Republicans, would lose their Obamacare health insurance coverage.
One of them might be Rosel Ettress, of Chicago.
A daycare center manager and mother of three, Ettress could lose
$250 a month in tax subsidies that help her afford the premiums for
her insurance under 2010's Affordable Care Act.
She said in a telephone interview that this would be a blow and she
urged Republicans and Democrats in Congress to act.
"I would like for Congress to come up with a way to fix this where
everyone could still get the subsidies and still save a little money
in the process," she said.
King v. Burwell is the result of a lawsuit brought by anti-Obamacare
libertarian activists. Ordinarily, Republicans might be expected to
cheer for a ruling damaging to Obamacare, which the party has
opposed since its passage.
But there are many Republicans among the 6.4 million low- and
middle-income Americans who get Obamacare premium subsidies in 34
states. If those Americans lost their coverage as a result of the
case, who would they blame at the polls in 2016?
REPUBLICANS DIVIDED
Republicans in Congress have been working on post-King v. Burwell
plans for months, but still can not decide what to do. Some favor
extending the Obamacare subsidies long enough to protect people like
Ettress for a time and prevent them from possibly seeking revenge on
the party.
In another approach, the Republican Study Committee, a group of some
170 House of Representatives conservatives, on Thursday proposed a
model for a longer-term replacement for Obamacare.
But the group's chairman, Representative Bill Flores, said it would
not offer an interim plan for the immediate aftermath of King v.
Burwell, in part because members can not agree on whether to
temporarily extend the Obamacare subsidies.
"I will not vote to extend the subsidies unless the president is
willing to sit down with us and do the things to reduce the overall
cost of the premiums," said Representative Austin Scott, a member of
the committee, at a news conference.
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In the Senate, there was rising Republican anxiety about what might
need to be done in the wake of King v. Burwell.
Twenty-one of 24 Republicans who are running for re-election to the
Senate next year are from states on the federal exchange,
Healthcare.gov, which King v. Burwell specifically targets and from
which the court could make the subsidies disappear.
"Millions have grown accustomed to those subsidies and we're gonna
have to replace them" if the court nixes them, Republican Senator
John McCain of Arizona told Reuters earlier this week.
One of the senators running for re-election in 2016, Ron Johnson of
Wisconsin, has 31 co-sponsors including McCain for his bill to
extend the Obamacare subsidies through August 2017.
Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, a Senate Republican leader, this
week said Obama should step in. "The president made the mess. He
doesn't seem to be a willing partner to work with in finding
solutions to the mess he's made," Barrasso said.
White House officials said they have no Plan B if the Court rules
against the administration.
"If the Supreme Court were to throw the health care system in this
country into utter chaos, there would be no easy solutions for
solving that problem,” spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a
briefing on Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh
and Chris Reese)
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