1/3

HEALTH LAW CASE POSES CONUNDRUM FOR REPUBLICANS

Republicans in Congress are urging the Supreme Court to strike down subsidies for health insurance. They are also chiding the Obama administration because it has no plan to avert the hardship that could occur if they win in court. Republicans now have realized that a if the court decision is in their favor it poses a risk to members of their party. With an increase on their numbers on Capitol Hill, Republicans theoretically have more power to undo President Obama's health care overhaul, but they also have more responsibility for the result. The No. 2 Republican in the Senate Said the Obama administration's top health official was treating Congress with contempt by refusing to discuss contingency plans if the Supreme Court blocked subsidy payments. At Senate hearing, The secretary of health and human services, repeatedly dodged questions from republicans who asked about the court case. IN a legal brief, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Cruz and other Republican lawmakers urged the court to hold that subsidies provided to people in the federal insurance exchange were illegal. A ruling like that would blow a hole in the health care law, jeopardizing subsidies for more than five million people in the states that use federal exchange. democrats complain  about hypocrisy. They argue that "It's like throwing gasoline on a fire, then indignantly asking the administration for its plan to put out the fire." Insurers canceled many policies that did not meet coverage standards set by the Affordable Care Act. If republicans prevail in court, many people could lose their insurance plans because they would lose the subsidies and and no longer afford the premiums.