Sasse’s plan would allow the King v. Burwell decision to end both the individual and employer mandates, and put an end to enrollment. That’s a great start. But it is exceedingly difficult to believe that 18 transitional months of subsidies won’t turn into 18 transitional years or more. Which welfare subsidy has ever seen a sunset, after all?
Sasse argues that Republicans will have to unify around a set longer-term solutions, and then turn the 2016 presidential election into a referendum on two competing visions of health-care policy. Is the best way to remind people about the competing visions to make the Democrats’ vision less disastrous? Sasse’s plan reinforces the notion that we have an uninsured problem rather than a price-controlled marketplace problem that needs less government interference. Once you’ve acquiesced to the idea that billions in subsidizes are needed, the idea becomes bipartisan.
Of course, there’s little chance Democrats would help pass Sasses’ 18-month plan. More likely, they will unite behind a plan that subsidizes those in states without contrived Obamacare “marketplaces” in perpetuity. Obama would not. Who knows who the next president will be? If Republican governors take whatever ensuing payoff is offered by the administration, they would either pay a price politically or not. The GOP should not be the one offering it.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member