@Cyclone_Baroness:
So goddamn frustrating. Why purposely tank it? Fix the flaws. It really shouldn't be impossible and it's a win win for the Republicans. If they help make it worse that will be basically just as bad as a shoddy new bill. Since isn't the state of the ACA essentially their fault in the first place from making it get reworked till they would pass it?
The problem is that despite having some flaws that really should be addressed, Obamacare ultimately overall is a positive thing that aims to fix several problems in the healthcare system that were forcing millions of Americans to go without insurance.
This sounds like a good thing, but the reason it's a bad thing to Republicans is that it was not only passed by a Democratic president and (at the time) a Democratic majority congress, but that it's SO heavily associated with that Democratic President that it's unofficial nickname bears that president's name.
The Republicans can't have anything good associated with Obama or the Democrats. They've been arguing for years that this is a disaster and its terrible and there's absolutely nothing good about it and it needs to be repealed and blah blah blah. Obama and the Democrats are attached to it, therefore it must go.
That's why "Repeal and Replace" is so alluring. If they "Repeal and replace" they can then claim ownership of the replacement and say "Look! The Obama version failed, but the Republican version didn't!!"
If they fixed the existing Affordable Care Act without removing it. Therefore it's still the bill unofficially called "Obamacare" that was originally submitted by a Democrat, then even if the Republicans can try to take credit for "Fixing" it, they would still on some level have to admit a bill submitted by a Democrat and pushed by Obama to the point that it has his name on it is in any way "Good" and would have to give them at least some credit. Hell, it'll probably keep being called "Obamacare" and the Republicans would be worried history will just forget they had anything to do with "Fixing" it.