RIGHT SPEAK: Republicans and Team Obama Square-Off on Obamacare

“Obamacare is busted,” House Ways and Means Chairman
Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said in his opening statement,
setting the tone for a contentious hearing.

Two sides fine-tune messages before Supreme Court’s decision on Affordable Care Act

House Republicans sent a clear signal Wednesday that they wouldn’t preserve the health law in its current form if the Supreme Court guts a key provision, and the Obama administration responded with equal clarity that the states and Congress would be the ones responsible for resolving any fallout.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews
Burwell testifies during a hearing before the House Ways
and Means Committee on Wednesday.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

GOP legislators and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell set out their messages at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing Wednesday, during a week in which both sides are fine-tuning their strategies on the case.

The high court is due to rule by the end of June in King v. Burwell. Challengers say the language of the Affordable Care Act restricts the tax credits used to subsidize the cost of premiums to the handful of states that opted to set up their own exchanges, not the three dozen states that rely on the federally run HealthCare.gov website.

Democrats have indicated that if the court strikes down the subsidies in most of the country, they would put heavy pressure on Republicans to pass a measure correcting the language in the law to revive them, and leave the rest of the law untouched. Congressional Republicans have repeatedly said there is no way they would do that because they want to overhaul the entire law, including provisions such as the “individual mandate” requiring most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty.

“Obamacare is busted,” House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said in his opening statement, setting the tone for a contentious hearing. “The answer isn’t just to tighten a few screws and everything will be fine.…We here on this side of the aisle are not eager to reinstate the individual mandate.”