John Barrasso's tell: King is a fraud

In his determination to accent the negative in characterizing the ACA, Senator John Barrasso has exposed the absurdity -- in fact the fraud -- at the heart of the King v. Burwell suit.

Here's how Barrasso characterizes the IRS rule allowing subsidies to flow through the federal exchange:

“Instead of bullying the Supreme Court, the president should spend his time preparing for the reality that the court may soon rule against his decision to illegally issue tax penalties and subsidies on Americans in two-thirds of the country,” he said in a statement. “Congress will not pass a so-called ‘one-sentence’ fake fix.”

The fix is "fake" because, according to this party line, Congress never intended for the federal exchange to be empowered to credit subsidies. But Barrasso leads with "penalties" because it's more fun to emphasize the stick than than the carrot. The individual mandate is the flip side of the subsidies: without subsidies, the vast majority of the uninsured would be exempt because coverage would not be affordable.

Well, Ezra Klein, Republicans may not have "plan" to save insurance markets after King. But they may deal

Republican Senators Orrin Hatch Lamar Alexander John Barrasso are out today with a lightly sketched "plan" to salvage premium subsidies credited through the ACA's federal exchange if the Supreme Court rules for the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell.  The proposal closely resembles the  possible post-King negotiation that former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt outlined to me. Here's Hatch et al:

First and most important: We would provide financial assistance to help Americans keep the coverage they picked for a transitional period. It would be unfair to allow families to lose their coverage, particularly in the middle of the year....

Second, we will give states the freedom and flexibility to create better, more competitive health insurance markets offering more options and different choices. Republicans understand that what works in Utah is different from what works in Tennessee or Wyoming. We want to give states the time and flexibility to design health-care systems that work for them, not for the bureaucrats in Washington.

People who live in states that have state exchanges will continue to be subject to Obamacare’s costly mandates and rules, along with the subsidies. But their states could also have the benefit of our solution. Every state would have the ability to create better markets suited to the needs of their citizens.

And here's Leavitt last week: