What a GOP Senate would mean for ObamaCare

First, expect a vote on full repeal. Republicans will use any procedural opening they can to get a full-repeal bill to Obama’s desk, a Republican health care staffer said. Yes, Obama will veto it, and there will be plenty of eye rolling about how many futile repeal votes congressional Republicans have held. But the Senate has never held one, and any Republican who doesn’t want to get primaried will want a chance to vote for repeal before moving on to anything that might look like “fixing” Obamacare.

After that, Republicans have two anti-Obamacare tracks—bills that might pass, and bills they could force Obama to veto.

There’s some low-hanging fruit that could gain bipartisan support. If Republicans win the Senate, for example, Obama will almost surely be presented with a bill to repeal the health care law’s tax on medical devices. That proposal has passed the House and could easily pass the Senate today, with strong bipartisan support—if it ever came up for a binding vote.

The GOP aide laid out a few more items that might win Democratic support, such as repealing the health insurance tax and stepping up the procedures for recapturing improper subsidies. Even a big-ticket item like repealing the employer mandate could attract red-state Democrats, allowing Republicans to argue that they’re pursuing bipartisan reforms, even if most or all of their efforts are ultimately vetoed.