In what seems to be morally and unethically bankrupt, and maybe illegal to boot, Paul Ryan is heading up efforts to influence Chief Justice John Roberts so he'll gut the Affordable Care Act.
Ryan is hoping to show Roberts that congress is ready to replace ObamaCare once the court removes the tax credits for government run state exchanges. For a party that had a tantrum over a few people losing their doctors and insurance, they seem almost gleeful over the prospects that force millions to lose their doctors and insurance:
TPM: Republican leaders are eager to convey to the chief justice that they will be ready to act. Rep. Paul Ryan, a key committee chairman overseeing health care policy, told reporters Friday on Capitol Hill, "The idea is to show what our alternative to Obamacare would look like. We don't have [a plan] yet, so I can't tell you what it is.”
Of course the easiest way to keep millions from losing their doctors and insurance is off the table:
He ruled out changes to make Obamacare work better or tweaks to make clear the subsidies are available in all states, instead saying the goal would be to help states "get out of Obamacare."
Shining a bright spotlight on their own Republican incompetence, a few senators decided ‘who cares:’
One top Republican, Sen. Lamar Alexander (TN), suggested recently that his party may not need to act if millions of Americans lose their subsidies. Another Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), said the GOP should challenge Democrats to come up with a different health care plan that isn't Obamacare and is supported by the American public.
I hate to tell Republicans that it's too late to convince Americans they're not already "crazy to the point of letting the world spin into chaos:"
One conservative source, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, described it as an attempt to "make the world safe for Roberts to overturn" the subsidies and to "not let our guys look like they're going crazy and letting the world spin into chaos."
Republicans hate their own government so much (patriotic isn't it?) that managing it is now impossible. Stunning to say, here's what they have to offer:
Scratch beneath the surface and the GOP effort to devise an alternative is a mess. Republican leaders have offered no specifics beyond their longstanding call for "patient-centered" solutions. The party is nowhere close to a viable plan, aides privately say, stymied by the same obstacles they've faced for five years: deep internal divisions and a lack of economically feasible options to cover the uninsured without mandates or regulations or higher taxes and spending.
