That, however, appears to be a minority view among party strategists.
“I just honestly believe that if there is a mobilization, it will be where it has been from the beginning, which is from the right,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart.
As the nation awaits a decision from the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of President Obama's flagship health care law, Yale University Law Professor Akhil Amar joined the "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-hosts to examine the issues the justices are considering.
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Still, some of the bill’s opponents warn that their side should be careful what it wishes for.
“Initially, it will be an I-told-you-so from Republicans to Democrats,” Wilensky said. “Then the question will be, there’s a problem, so what are you going to do about it? It’s not clear to me how this plays out politically when people step back. ... In some ways, I could argue that [striking down the bill] takes away one of the biggest rallying cries that conservatives have had.”
Republicans say they will have an alternative, though not any time soon.
“We are certainly not going to make the same mistake that Washington Democrats did by rushing through a 2,700-page bill that no one has read,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
Steel also suggested that what Republicans envision is an incremental approach — or, as he put it, “step-by-step common-sense reforms that will actually lower costs.”
In the meantime, Boehner cautioned House Republicans in a memo Thursday: “If the Court strikes down all or part of the president’s health care law, there will be no spiking of the ball. . . .We will not celebrate.’’
If Mitt Romney is elected, the all-but-official Republican nominee has said he would give states the primary responsibility for covering the uninsured. He has also pledged to expand tax breaks to small businesses that cover their workers, allow insurance companies to sell policies across state lines and ensure that people with coverage do not lose it when they get sick.
In the meantime, there is the question of what will happen to some of the provisions of the law that have already kicked in.
Several big insurers last week announced that, regardless of how the court rules, they will keep several of the law’s provisions. Among them are allowing dependents up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance policies, and full coverage of preventive care, such as immunizations and screening.
Unclear, however, is what would happen to those who are already benefiting from other parts of the law. They include the estimated 60,000 people with preexisting conditions who are getting coverage through new federally backed high-risk pools, and seniors who have already saved what the administration says is $3.5 billion from a provision that closes an infamous gap in their medicare prescription drug coverage known as the “doughnut hole.”
If the law is upheld
“If the whole bill is upheld, the president would get a huge boost,” said Robert Blendon, a senior associate dean at the Harvard School of Public Health, who studies public attitudes on health care. “This has taken on a symbolism, not just on health policy, but on leadership and the role of government.”
But the implementation of the law has not yet been fully put to the test.
States will be crucial to making it all work. But as they have waited for the constitutionality of the law to be decided in the courts, many have lagged in setting up the insurance marketplaces — known as “exchanges” — that are called for in the law.
According to a survey by Kaiser Health News, only 15 states have thus far established exchanges. More than 30 states are either studying their options or have not yet acted. And two — Arkansas and Louisiana — have refused to create them.
Many experts and policymakers are doubtful that states will be able to meet their deadline to have the exchanges up and operating.
“Will all of the exchanges really be up and running by January of 2014?” Daschle asked. “I’m dubious.”
As a result, he said, Congress might have to step in and extend the deadline.
But the longer it takes to implement the law, the longer it will take for Americans to realize any benefits they receive from it — which means it is likely to remain unpopular. And Republicans will continue, even redouble, their efforts to get it repealed.
“Any groundbreaking legislation is going to have opposition before the public understands what it means, and how it can help them,” said Democratic pollster Hart. “Without having it in practice, people can more easily understand the downsides than the advantages.”
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