The election of Donald Trump and an ascendant Republican majority in Congress may mean the end of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare. Within weeks, Congress could enact legislation repealing most of the ACA's tax- and spending-related provisions. Although Republicans have promised to craft a replacement, leading commentators on both the left and the right are skeptical. They note that Republicans have never yet coalesced around an ACA alternative; that any such alternative is unlikely to attract the Democratic votes that Republicans need to overcome the filibuster; and that, having repealed the ACA's taxes, Republicans will be unable to finance a coverage expansion. “Repeal and replace” might just be “repeal.”
If the ACA is undone and a stalemate emerges, attention will turn to the states.
