The Supreme Court is likely to decide the King v. Burwell case this month, determining whether millions of Americans who purchased health insurance through the law’s exchanges will lose their subsidized coverage. On Fox News Sunday, House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) repeatedly dodged questions about how the Republican Congress would address such a situation.
Host Chris Wallace repeatedly pushed Ryan to explain whether the House Republican majority would pass legislation to prevent millions who enrolled in Obamacare (in states that opted to rely on a federal exchange) from losing their subsidized coverage. But Ryan offered only a carefully worded promise that his party would “have a solution.” When he was further pressed on whether that solution would make sure those affected would be able to keep their subsidies, he again said only that “a solution” would be forthcoming.
Asked whether he would insist on repealing other key parts of the Affordable Care Act, Ryan warned that the President would offer a proposed solution and say “it’s my way or the highway, just give me my law.” The unsuccessful 2012 vice presidential nominee said, “We’re not gonna do that.”
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Ryan claimed that Obamacare was “failing.” Wallace noted White House statistics that 16 million Americans had gained coverage, healthcare costs have risen at the slowest rate in 50 years, and up to 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions are no longer at risk of losing their coverage. “We’re five years into Obamacare,” Wallace reminded Ryan, “[and] Republicans have still not come up with a coherent plan that will ensure that all of those millions of uninsured people get coverage.” Ryan responded by noting that there had been GOP alternatives when the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 and said that his party will have a replacement plan sometime in the next administration.