About 120 House and Senate candidates have signed on to a pledge, posted at DefundIt.org, to support defunding the overhaul. They include GOP Senate candidates Sharron Angle of Nevada and Jane Norton of Colorado and House candidates Tim Scott of South Carolina and Dennis Ross of Florida.

But this strategy could prove troublesome if Americans are denied some of the popular provisions of the law that they’ve already experienced, such as insurance pools for people with pre-existing conditions or one of a series of insurance industry reforms due to go into effect this fall.

Republicans would be able to deny funding only to the pieces of the law that require money from Congress. Doing so could create “Swiss cheese” out of the legislation, with some portions of the law already being funded and others not.

Money has already been appropriated, for instance, to start the employee reinsurance program, which will send money to companies who cover retirees. It’s unclear how a successful defunding plan would affect those programs.