The Zombie-Eyed Granny-Starver from Wisconsin (h/t Charlie Pierce) joined Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday this weekend, and to discuss, among other things, the upcoming King vs. Burwell case and what the Republicans will do if the court decided to upend the Affordable Care Act and put an end to the federal subsidies.
As Tom Boggioni at Raw Story noted, Paul Ryan was full of promises on how his party was going to deal with this, and very short on details: WATCH: Paul Ryan repeatedly refuses to tell skeptical Fox host how the GOP would replace Obamacare:
Arguing against all evidence that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has benefited millions of Americans, a smug Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told a skeptical Chris Wallace that the GOP has a plan should the Supreme Court invalidate the health care act.
Appearing with Wallace on Fox News Sunday, the former vice presidential nominee repeatedly refused to explain the details of the mysterious Republican replacement for Obamacare, even after the news host pointed out the the Republicans have had five years since the ACA was signed into law to provide an alternative.
“For all the complaints, we’re five years into Obamacare and Republicans have still not come up with a coherent plan that will ensure that all of those millions of uninsured people will get coverage,” Wallace said, only to have Ryan brush him off, saying the GOP wants to “see the details” of the upcoming Supreme Court ruling before unveiling their plan to the public.
Republicans can pretend they're happy about the court taking this case up, but if they win, they're going to look like the dog that finally caught the car. Sadly they're probably willing to raise premiums for millions of Americans if they think it will damage President Obama instead of a one line fix to the law, which is all it would take to resolve this.
We all know why Ryan doesn't have a clear answer for Wallace, because we all already know what their "plan" is. As Alan Grayson rightfully described it, don't get sick, and if you do, die quickly, and let the "free market" take care of everything.
Full transcript via Fox:
WALLACE: I want to switch to ObamaCare, because the Supreme Court is going to decide in the next couple weeks before the end of June whether or not people in the 34 states that have federal exchanges, not state exchanges, can continue to get their subsidies under ObamaCare.
You asked HHS Secretary Burwell this week if the vote goes against ObamaCare, whether the administration has a plan B. Here’s what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SYLVIA MATHEWS BURWELL, HHS SECRETARY: If the court said that we do not have the authority to give subsidies, the critical decisions will sit with the Congress and states and governors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Question: if the court does rule against ObamaCare, against these subsidies, says that they're illegal to the federal exchanges -- will Republicans come up with a way, Republicans in Congress, to make sure that those 6 million to 7 million people who depend on these subsidies in those 34 states are not left high and dry?
RYAN: Yes, we will have an answer. We will have a solution. We don't want people to fall victim because of this bad law.
We want to give people freedom from ObamaCare. We want to give people a bridge from Obamaare.
So, not only do we want to make sure that families don't suffer because of the failures of this law, we also want to give states the freedom to go their own direction and make it better. This law is failing. It's collapsing. Even if the court ruled for ObamacCare, you still have a disaster on our hands -- double digit premium increases, people are not getting what they want.
So, we want to give people freedom, the ability to buy what they want to buy, which is what Obama said you could do, and give states more control.
WALLACE: But I want to -- you're saying that you guarantee the Republicans will come --
RYAN: We will have a solution, yes.
WALLACE: That will make sure that these 6 million to 7 million will be able to keep their subsidies?
RYAN: Well, we will have a solution that addresses this law, that gives people a bridge from Obamacare and that addresses people who are getting caught in the crossfire, that are getting caught in this ruling.
WALLACE: Well, that’s what I want to ask you about.
RYAN: We will have a solution that addresses people who are being caught in this. And the solution, I won't go into all details because, quite frankly, Chris, we want to see the nature of the ruling. There are --
WALLACE: Now, I understand that. But here's the question.
RYAN: -- different details here.
WALLACE: But here’s a question, Congressman.
RYAN: The answer is yes, we'll have a solution --
WALLACE: Right.
RYAN: -- for people who are caught up in this law so that they're not left in the lurch.
WALLACE: But here’s the question: will you demand an end to the mandates, employer mandates, individual mandates, which Secretary Burwell said would in effect be repealing ObamaCare and that the president would veto?
RYAN: Well, I’m not going to get to all of that right now, because we want to see what the ruling is. But we want to give people freedom from ObamaCare. We want to let people actually buy what they want to buy so that we can lower healthcare prices.
WALLACE: But, what she’s saying is your solution is going to be something an offer that the president can't accept.
RYAN: Here’s what they’re saying, is they're going to hold up one piece page of paper and he’s going to say, it's my way or the highway. Just give me my law, you know, ram it down throats of the Americans again.
We're not going to do that. I think everybody knows we're not going to do that.
That's what I was asking the secretary which is, are you going to be intransigent and stubborn and say it's only my way or the highway, or are you going to work with Congress to fix this absolutely failed law and give us the ability to get people out of this so that we can have more freedom for individuals, more freedom for states? And we'll find out.
WALLACE: Well, I want to pick up on that because you said a couple times that this is a failed law. In your hearing this week, you said that ObamaCare is busted, that it's a lemon. There clearly are problems. You pointed out one of them, which is that insurance companies are coming up asking for 20 percent, 30 percent premium increases.
But the White House points to some successes. I want to put these on the screen.
Under ObamaCare, 16 million Americans have gained health coverage. Healthcare costs have risen at their slowest level in 50 years and up to 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions are no longer in risk of losing coverage.
And meanwhile, for all of the complaints, Congressman, we're five years into ObamaCare, Republicans have still not come up with a coherent plan that will ensure that all of those millions of uninsured people get coverage.
RYAN: It's pretty amazing how short memories are around these days. When ObamaCare was being debated, we offered lots of different plans. We offered comprehensive alternative solutions to ObamaCare. Tom Coburn and I had a bill, for example, that would have dealt with this.
Here’s a deal -- we can have a system in America where everybody can get affordable coverage, including people with pre-existing conditions, without this costly government takeover, without raiding Medicare, without telling people you have to buy what the government says you have to buy on a government marketplace.
WALLACE: But if I may, if -- I want to be an equal opportunity interrupter today.
RYAN: No, it’s all good.
WALLACE: Do you have a plan that would make sure that, for instance here, 16 million Americans who didn't have health insurance will get health insurance?
PAUL: So, yes, we will. We want to see what the ruling is specifically so that we can customize our response to the actual ruling and that plan will involve making sure that people have assistance as we transition and give people freedom from ObamaCare. The other answer is, can we replace this law completely in the next presidency, in the next Congress? That is our goal and the answer is, yes, we can.
