The Washington Post Plum Line Blog has strongly criticized the GOP for its reaction to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ACA ruling. As has been reported elsewhere on this site, a panel of Judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the subsidies are not available to people who purchased insurance through the federal exchange. Not surprisingly, the Republicans have been celebrating the ruling. In response, The Washington Post's Paul Waldman of Plum Line notes that the Republicans should think about what they are celebrating:
But when you see Republicans raising glasses of champagne to congratulate themselves on how clever they are, remember what it is they’re celebrating. It isn’t that conservatism won some meaningful philosophical victory, or that they’ve managed to make the country a better place. All that’s happening is that they may have succeeded in taking health insurance away from millions of Americans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
[I]t demonstrates just how willing Republicans are to lay waste to Americans’ lives if it means they can strike a blow at Barack Obama and his health law. . . . They want millions of Americans to lose the subsidies they got this year, in many if not most cases making health insurance completely unaffordable for them, and their justification is this: We found a mistake in the law, so you people are screwed. As far as the Republicans are concerned, it’s like spotting that a batter’s toe missed second base as he was trotting around for his home run, and therefore claiming that they won the game after all.
But it’s not a game, it’s people’s lives. If they succeed at the Supreme Court, people will die. That’s not hyperbole. Millions of Americans will lose their health coverage — 6.5 million by one estimate — and many of them won’t be able to afford to go to the doctor, and many of them will have ailments that go untreated. People will die.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Real people have been helped by the Affordable Care Act, and if the ruling of the D.C. Circuit stands, the ACA will become just another tax on lower income citizens as they will not be able to afford healthcare coverage in states where there is no subsidy and as result, they will have to pay the penalty. And as correctly noted by The Washington Post, the loss of health insurance will mean that people will die.
Let us hope that the citizens of the states whose governments elected not to create state exchanges punish their state GOP elected officials in the 2014 elections.
11:35 AM PT: I wanted to correct an error that originally appeared in my diary. I originally incorrectly attributed the quoted statements to the Editorial Board of the Washington Post when they were made by David Waldman of the Plum Line Blog of the Washington Post. I had found Waldman's analysis under opinions where the editorials normally are and missed his byline. I have now corrected the diary and my title. I also apparently mistakenly linked to my own diary rather than the Washington Post. I apologize for the error.
I wanted to say thank you to Phenry who pointing out my error in linking to my own diary who led me to correct this mistake