Seems to me like a whole lot of “ifs” and worst case scenarios that folks are getting themselves worked up into a case of the vapors over.
So IF a new justice would change the final decision (maybe, but probably not) and IF the entire law gets thrown out (unlikely), and IF the legislative and executive branches do absolutely nothing to prevent millions of people from losing their insurance (unlikely as well), and IF the market doesn’t come up with any alternatives (also not likely), and IF all the states decide to sit on their hands (not likely, either), and IF people who see this disaster developing do absolutely nothing to mitigate the impact on themselves, THEN yes, things will definitely suck.
Republican leaders have said it is their goal to get rid of Obamacare ever since it was passed. During Obama’s time in office Senate Republicans fought to keep judges from getting confirmed at every level of the judiciary. During Trump’s time in office McConnell’s top priority as majority leader of the Senate has been to confirm judges that he believes have his same ideology.
28 States have filed lawsuits challenging some or all of Obamacare. There is an active lawsuit asking to strike down the entirety of the law with arguments scheduled before the Supreme Court on November 10th. McConnell is doing everything he can to get another judge confirmed before then.
When Republicans held the House, Senate, and White House they completely failed to even bring a bill up for a vote. I haven’t seen a single republican even present a concept of what an Obamacare replacement bill would look like.
So, while I normally share your attitude that one shouldn’t worry too much about remote possibilities, I think it is ridiculous to pretend like this isn’t a possibility. This has been the top priority of one political party for over a decade now. They have made a lot of progress toward achieving their goal.
Have you seen any evidence that Trump or McConnell or McCarthy could come up with complex legislation to replace Obamacare and get it through congress and signed? I haven’t seen anything from this administration that makes me think that is a possibility.
As for the market solution: it would be what we had before (as people have already pointed out). If you’ve ever had a serious illness or injury before you won’t be able to get private insurance. If you have a family history or other risk factor for serious illness you won’t be able to get private insurance. If you don’t have insurance and you end up in the hospital for any length of time you will be bankrupt. If you have a chronic condition you won’t be able to get continuing care, so you’ll have to do the best you can, then end up in the emergency room whenever it becomes acute because you haven’t been treating it. They will patch you up, send your emergency room bill to collections, then send you back out for the whole cycle to start over again.
Before Obamacare health insurance in the US was disaster unless you could get it through work or you were young, healthy, and relatively well off. I fit that description, so personally I’m sure I’ll be ok if it goes away, but a huge chunk of the country won’t be.