Last year, Republicans learned that conspicuously ripping health insurance from millions of poor and sick people would probably cost them votes. So instead, they pursued a sneakier strategy: sabotage.
Undermining Obamacare can be nearly as effective as repealing Obamacare, after all. And relative to a big, splashy legislative vote, boring-sounding administrative actions are much more likely to fly under the radar.
Sure enough, the Republicans’ latest sabotage effort came Saturday. That’s when the Trump administration abruptly announced it was halting yet another program, called “risk adjustment,” designed to stabilize the individual and small-group insurance markets.
This program sounds dry and technical, but it is crucial for making sure people with pre-existing conditions maintain access to care.