Apparently the latest Republican brainstorm on healthcare reform — assuming they win control of the House in November — is to pick out bits and pieces of the legislation and refuse to fund them. Austin Frakt is worried:
Make no mistake, repeal by purse strings could create a mess. The law has many moving parts that act together to create a sensible, complete whole. And implementing a piece of legislation as complex as the ACA requires fully funding the agencies that oversee it. So, this strikes me as the most politically viable, serious attack on health reform.
….The combination of “savings” created by failing to fund implementation and tax cuts is likely to appeal to the Republican base. Keep in mind that the ACA does very little for the broad middle-class of voters who are covered in the large-group market. In these hard economic times, such voters may prefer some money in their pockets than additional spending on a program for which they expect little benefit. (Of course losing one’s job jeopardizes one’s insurance so the ACA really does add a meaningful layer of protection for all Americans.)
So, I worry about this. The legislation may be Democratic sausage, but I prefer it to the Swiss cheese the Republicans intend to dish up.
I wonder how this plays out politically? Even a landslide would only give the GOP a small majority, maybe five or ten seats, which means they’d have to keep party discipline almost 100% waterproof in order to do this. Could they pull that off?
Maybe. But minority parties have a much bigger incentive to stick together than majority parties do: the cost is zero and the PR is good. But what happens when they’re running things? If Democrats can find even a dozen Republicans who aren’t quite willing to make a hash out of healthcare for real — as opposed to just talking about it — then funding is safe. And they might. Talking smack is one thing, but there are still a few non-bomb-throwers on the GOP side who might flinch at voting for the real-world chaos this would produce.
Alternatively, this will all be moot because America will step back from the brink on November 2nd and have second thoughts about turning the country over to the lunacies of the tea party. For now, this is still my guess. Dems will lose 30-35 seats and maintain very narrow control of the House. I can’t say I’m willing to put any money on this prediction, though.
