House Republicans likely to renege on Obamacare replacement promise

The GOP health care reform plan.
The off-again, on-again promise from congressional Republicans to replace Obamacare after repeal (or the Supreme Court strikes it down) seems to be off again.

Republicans might not offer a comprehensive plan to replace President Obama's healthcare law if the Supreme Court strikes it down this summer. [...]

'I don't want to go that route,' said Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), a doctor and a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. [...]

[S]ome Republicans, including Gingrey, now say a comprehensive bill isn't the right approach. They argue it would be foolhardy for Republicans to put forward broad healthcare legislation after sharply criticizing the length and scope of Obama's bill.

'I don't believe we need to have another big omnibus bill that we're going to roll out,' Gingrey said. 'I don't think that we need to make the same mistakes that the Obama administration and the Democrat Congress made.'
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is making the same case to Republicans on the other side of the Capitol.

'Whether the courts strike it down or Congress repeals it, Republicans shouldn't repeat the Democrats' mistake of rushing through our own big bill,' DeMint said.

It could also be that they have no comprehensive ideas for health reform. They've talked about trying to preserve some of the more popular parts of Obamacare, for example the ban on insurance companies denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, but without the larger framework'a mandate or a public option'it wouldn't work. They have their little ideas: tort reform, allowing insurance purchases across state lines (a logistical nightmare for states trying to regulate the industry which would likely have an end result of minimal regulation). It would insure just a fraction of those currently uninsured and cut the deficit by about half of what the Affordable Care Act would.

Ultimately, though, they just don't want to bother with it because Republicans don't perceive health care as a problem. For them, the only health care crisis that exists in America is too many people having access to it on Medicaid and Medicare. The uninsured? Let 'em die.