“We got Trouble right here in River City,” say a whole slew of normally Republican religious organizations. How come? Because their Congressional allies’ intransigence is about to cost them and their employees a whole bunch of money. How’s that? In the drafting of the bill church health plans were excluded from eligibility for the health exchanges that each state is supposed to set up as marketplaces for competing insurance offerings. This was likely just an oversight, since these plans aren’t for sale to the public and thus went unconsidered.

So what’s the problem? Well, the religious groups want their plans to be included in the exchanges. The Republicans in Congress, however, hate the ACA so much (you may have noticed that the House just held its 37th vote to repeal it) that they refuse to even consider changes to it. “Why change what should be repealed,” they say.

Religious groups have sought this fix since at least 2011, and several sources say that at least half a dozen Republican Senate offices have been approached for their support, including Sens. Marco Rubio, Lamar Alexander and Dan Coats, but so far to no avail. Emails and calls by the Washington Monthly to Sen. Rubio’s and Alexander’s offices were not returned.

Instead, Republicans seem to be signaling their determination to bring down the Great White Whale of Obamacare at almost any cost to potential beneficiaries.

[snip]

So Senate Republicans will soon face a test of commitments — particularly those with close ties to the Christian Right. At last week’s annual meeting of the largest conservative evangelical denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, clergy were informed of this issue. Religious leaders are beginning to lobby Congress in support of the Pryor-Coons bill this week. It will be fascinating to see if this sort of pressure can shake the GOP’s determination to pursue the unconditional repeal of Obamacare to hell and back.

Good. The Republicans need to be slapped by their own constituents, hard and continuously. Good luck to the church people.