If the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare subsidies in the pending King v. Burwell case, Republicans must be ready with an effective response or face the alternative that President Barack Obama will further expand the federal healthcare program, said Sen. Ron Johnson.
In an opinion piece for
The Wall Street Journal, the Wisconsin Republican said Republicans must craft a solution that will help those who lose their subsidies or risk having the president reroute subsidies through the federal government and convert federal exchanges into state exchanges.
"The first goal of a Republican strategic response must be to prevent President Obama's cynical use of the coming crisis from working. If Republicans wait, we will have no chance of countering Mr. Obama's response," Johnson wrote.
"We must be ready to come swiftly to the aid of those who will be victimized once again by Obamacare if the court rules against the administration. Republicans must come together now, agree on a legislative solution, and take that solution to the American public immediately."
Johnson said that Republicans must also give America another chance to repeal Obamacare and replace it with patient-centered, market-based healthcare reforms.
"We must set up the 2016 presidential election as a contest between healthcare decisions made by Washington politicians and bureaucrats and reforms that put patients back in charge."
A number of Republicans in Congress, he said, have been working to craft a solution but have yet to rally around a single plan or offer legislation.
Johnson said he is introducing a plan that would build on a bill originally co-sponsored by Republican senators in 2013.
The plan would enact a grandfather clause and allow Americans to keep their current healthcare plans, along with their taxpayer subsidies, through August 2017. New enrollees in Obamacare would not be eligible for subsidies, effectively ending them.
The bill would also repeal the individual mandate and end tax penalties associated with choosing not to have insurance. It also repeals the employer mandate.
And the bill would eliminate mandated coverages that have increased the costs of health insurance.
"This is a plan Republicans should get behind now. If we wait until the ruling in King v. Burwell is handed down, it might be too late," Johnson said.
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