The Other Problem With Fred Upton’s Legislation

By: Erick Erickson 
Let’s say the House passes Congressman Upton’s legislation and the Senate passes Senate Landrieu’s legislation.
Let’s further say that Landrieu’s will not pass the House.
We have two pieces of legislation that cannot pass either chamber.
After the President’s press conference yesterday, a number of states announced that, contrary to what the President said, people will not be able to keep their healthcare plans. Likewise, more than a handful of lawyers came out and said the President has no authority to do what he did yesterday without Congress’s consent.
In other words, what the President said was just words with nothing to back them up.
Insurance companies understand that Mary Landrieu’s legislation would be devastating for them. So I suspect they’ll go to Harry Reid, encourage him to pass the Upton legislation, then send it on to President Obama who will sign it.

Now, most everyone pushing the Upton legislation points out that is really has no teeth. It is a paper tiger. Even the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board concedes this. But the Upton legislation gives the appearance of doing something.
So this Republican measure gets passed by the House, passed by the Senate, signed by the President, heralded by the media as a bipartisan success, and . . .?
And rates continue going up. The insurance companies that play along do so by letting people keep their existing plans at a much higher monthly premium. The public anger about Obamacare grows.
And now the Republican Party owns it too. They, after all, passed the Upton legislation. They, after all, promised the American public that the Upton legislation would allow people to keep their insurance plans.

Congratulations Republicans, you are now, if Upton does pass, co-owners of the rate shock Americans are suffering and your plan, as so many of you privately acknowledge, really does absolutely nothing.
So desperate are Republican leaders to avoid admitting they should have listened to Ted Cruz, they’ll become co-owners of Obamacare rather than fight for full repeal or defunding Obamacare.