QUOTE OF THE DAY…. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has been one of the most hysterical GOP lawmakers when it comes to repealing the Affordable Care Act, insisting that every possible provision in the law has to be scrubbed from existence — with no exceptions. Even wildly popular measures that enjoy broad bipartisan support, King has argued, need to be crushed.
As he argued in April, Republicans must “stand unanimously together for 100 percent repeal,” adding, “This is an all or nothing fight from this point forward.” In reference to the right-wing activists protesting the law, King said, “No one demonstrated to ‘kill the most egregious aspects’ or ‘preserve the least egregious aspects’ of Obamacare.”
With this in mind, King appeared on MSNBC earlier, to talk about the upcoming repeal vote. The host noted, “[S]o you’re willing to go out there and repeal health care to everybody, even with a pre-existing condition, repeal the ability for kids to stay on their parents’ health plan till they’re 26 years old — don’t you think that would be met with tremendous backlash?” King replied:
“I actually don’t think it would be met with tremendous backlash. There are Republicans who support those ideas and we start tomorrow the process of replacement of ‘Obamacare.’
“It will not work for us to say there’s a certain component of Obamacare that has some merit and so therefore we want to leave that in place and repeal the rest. This is too many pages, it’s too cluttered, it’s too big an argument to allow it to turn on one or two minor things.”
In this context, it appears protection for children with pre-existing conditions is a “minor thing.”
I wonder how many of the millions of families already benefiting from the Affordable Care Act would dismiss their benefits as “minor things”?
Also keep in mind, King isn’t exactly cagey about his intentions. There is no alternative reform package from him or his party — the goal is to gut the American health care system now, and then maybe figure something else out later.
And as we’re about to find out, the entire House Republican caucus is on board with exactly this approach.
