It's a great day for Ted Cruz's imagination
Josh Kraushaar of
National Journal opines:
Unless the HealthCare.gov website miraculously gets fixed by next month, there's a growing likelihood that over time, enough Democrats may join Republicans to decide to start over and scrap the whole complex health care enterprise. [...]
Would President Obama sign a death warrant on his own signature legislation? That's almost impossible to imagine, but it's entirely reasonable that he may not have a choice in the matter.
And why would they have no choice in the matter? Because, Kraushaar says, Congress may soon have veto-proof majorities in both chambers that want to repeal Obamacare. But, as Jason Linkins
asks:
Cool story, bro, but you got any sources on this?
As it turns out, the answer is no. The closest he comes is an anonymous quote from a "Democratic campaign operative," but even that quote ("we don't care what the White House says") doesn't support Kraushaar's claims that repeal is right around the corner.
In the absence of any actual evidence to support his thesis, Kraushaar tries to read the tea leaves of "harsh statements" from Democrats who voted against the Republican fix for cancelled health insurance policies, including this statement from Democratic Arizona congresswoman Anne Kirkpatrick:
The stunning ineptitude of the ACA marketplace rollout is more than a public relations disaster. It is a disaster for the working families in my Arizona district who badly need quality, affordable health care.
I have often said that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect, and I am willing to work across the aisle to improve it. This is why I voted in July for a one-year extension for small businesses and individuals to comply with ACA requirements.
But today, I voted against H.R. 3350, the Upton bill, because it would neither fix nor improve the ACA. It would raise premiums and undermine market reform – by discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, restoring annual caps on care, and forcing women to pay more than men for the same coverage.
According to Kraushaar, Kirkpatrick is one of "dozens" of Democrats who "could end up bolting if the political environment doesn't improve," but as you can see from her statement, she says she voted against the GOP legislation because it would "undermine" health care reform, which she continues to support. Kraushaar only included the first paragraph of her statement in his article, but a full reading of the statement makes it clear that far from being evidence that repeal is imminent, her statement shows that even Democrats who criticize the Obamacare rollout remain fundamentally committed to the legislation.
Obviously, if Obamacare does ultimately fail to deliver, it will be repealed either in whole or in part, but that's not what Kraushaar was arguing. His contention is that if healthcare.gov isn't fixed in two weeks—something that he believes would be a miracle—then the immediate repeal of Obamacare will suddenly become plausible. That's every bit as ridiculous as claiming that if healthcare.gov works perfectly on December 1, Ted Cruz will decide to support Obamacare. The only difference is that nobody is dumb enough to make that claim.