Observers say that the announcement by House Speaker John Boehner that he will resign the speakership and his congressional seat at the end of the next month under Tea Party pressure increases the chances of intractable partisan fights over fixes to the Affordable Care Act and other healthcare policy from now until the 2016 election.
Boehner’s successor will be pressed by Tea Partiers to try to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act — in the face of a presidential veto. But the general legislative gridlock following the exit of the relatively pragmatic Boehner may undermine efforts to roll back or revise parts of the healthcare reform law that even many Democrats don’t like either, such as the tax on high-value employer health plans, the medical-device tax and the expansion of small-group insurance rules to larger employer plans.
