The Senate\u2019s top five Republican leaders have cosponsored legislation to extend until 2017 the Obamacare insurance subsidies that may be struck down by the Supreme Court this summer.<\/p>\n
The legislation, offered by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), one of the most politically vulnerable Senate incumbents in 2016, would maintain the federal HealthCare.gov tax credits at stake in King v. Burwell through the end of August 2017.<\/p>\n
The bill was unveiled this week with 29 other cosponsors, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and his four top deputies, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), John Thune (R-SD), John Barrasso (R-WY) and Roy Blunt (R-MO). Another cosponsor is Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of the conference\u2019s electoral arm.<\/p>\n
Such a move would seek to protect the GOP from political peril in the 2016 elections when Democrats would try to blame the party for stripping subsidies \u2014 and maybe insurance coverage \u2014 from millions of Americans in three dozen states. A defeat for the Obama administration in a King ruling would likely create havoc across insurance markets and pose a huge problem for Republicans, many of whom have been pushing the Supreme Court to nix the subsidies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis bill is a first step toward reversing the damage that Obamacare has inflicted on the American health care system,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
He recently explained the rationale for the legislation, warning that Democrats would swarm the GOP with attacks and horror stories about \u201cindividuals that have benefited from Obamacare\u201d and lost their coverage.<\/p>\n
Democrats would probably demand a fix to make the subsidies permanently available if they go down. But they would be hard-pressed to vote down a bill to temporarily extend them if Republicans were to bring it up.<\/p>\n
The Johnson bill also contains sweeteners for conservatives which are non-starters for Democrats \u2014 it would repeal Obamacare\u2019s individual mandate and employer mandate, and remove federal rules requiring that insurance plans cover a minimum package of \u201cessential health benefits.\u201d If those provisions are ultimately stripped, though, the legislation could have legs.<\/p>\n