If the Supreme Court decision in King v. Burwell “upends” Obamacare, the Times reports, Republicans face a rough election. They have no viable “plan B.” They dominate in the states that rely on Obamacare and federal subsidies.

The numbers:

“Doing nothing is not an option,” said Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, who last week introduced a bill that would provide money to help people buy insurance with much less federal regulation. “We cannot sit idly by as millions of Americans lose their health insurance.”

House Republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal all or part of the Affordable Care Act, but have had difficulty agreeing on an alternative. Top Republicans filed legal briefs urging the Supreme Court to side with the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell, but are just beginning to realize the possible political implications of such a ruling.

Mr. Cassidy, a physician who has provided care to uninsured patients in Louisiana’s charity hospital system, said he could easily imagine how the White House might respond: “The president brings a woman in the middle of chemotherapy up on a stage to point out that she can no longer have her insurance because the Supreme Court struck down the subsidies.”

The consequences could be felt in statehouses and on Capitol Hill. Of the 34 states that use the federal insurance marketplace and would be most affected, 26 have Republican governors. Of the Senate seats up for election next year, 24 are held by Republicans, and 22 of those are in federal exchange states that could lose their subsidies. …NYT

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