Lott: Fix O-Care to avoid court case

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.), a leading Republican figure over the past two decades, said Thursday his party should pass a technical fix to avert a court challenge to ObamaCare.

Lott told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor that making technical changes to the landmark healthcare reform should not become a subject of political warfare.

{mosads}The Supreme Court next year will hear a challenge to the law contending that it failed to explicitly authorize the federal government to set up health insurance exchanges in more than 30 states that did not do so on their own. If the court rules for the plaintiffs, it could wipe out insurance subsidies for millions of U.S. citizens.

Democrats say the legal challenge is based on a drafting error and argue the overall context of the legislation makes clear that the federal government has the power to set up healthcare marketplaces for the uninsured.

Lott said that not long ago Congress routinely passed technical corrections bills in the wake of major legislation.

“Almost always on a major bill we’d have technical corrections almost immediately,” he said.

He said Republicans should address what critics perceive as the law’s ambiguity on the subject of whether the federal government can set up exchanges.

“I would think they should work at that,” he said.

When asked if he would encourage Republicans to work on a technical fix, Lott said, “Oh yeah, sure. I would.”