Republicans Fear Winning Health Care Suit

Winning the two-year-old lawsuit that Congressional Republicans filed against the Obama administration would hand the House GOP a victory on separation-of-power issues. The case set a potentially far-reaching precedent when a federal judge ruled that House Republicans had the standing to sue the executive branch over a spending dispute related to health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Winning the case could cause the entire ACA infrastructure to implode, leaving millions of Americans without access to health insurance while Republicans are still looking for a suitable replacement. An orderly repeal could leave the current system in place for years. The political fallout from mishandling health care for millions – or appropriating huge sums of money to maintain Obamacare – would fall solely on Republicans, who will control every branch of government once President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. The Trump administration could choose to fight its Republican allies in the House on central questions in the dispute, hoping to preserve some executive branch powers.