Ron DeSantis faces heat from both sides on Obamacare repeal

On live television last week, Rep. Ron DeSantis insinuated that cancer patients could get the care they needed at their local emergency rooms. A bad gaffe normally, during the current healthcare debate it metastasized quickly. By the weekend, many constituents were rejecting him like a bad bone marrow transplant.

At town halls inside Florida's sixth congressional district, diabetics, breast cancer survivors, and the father-in-law of a heart transplant recipient ask the Republican why he wants to repeal Obamacare and send them to the ER. Each time, DeSantis takes it on the chin.

Guzzling iced-tea as his car zips through the Florida heat en-route to the day's final event, DeSantis reconsiders the CNN answer. "I should've done that question differently, for sure," he says between sips. But for a man recently jeered so ruthlessly, DeSantis seems weirdly calm. Perhaps, it's because he understands none of this is normal.

The extraordinary pressure comes from the fact that DeSantis is one of roughly 40 Freedom Caucus members threatening Speaker Ryan's repeal and replacement plan. Conservatives worry the bill doesn't do away with enough of Obamacare while liberals complain that it cuts too much.

But DeSantis believes there's no lack of healthcare in America, hence his statement about showing up at an ER and receiving treatment. The real challenges are accessibility and affordability, he says, problems neither Obamacare or the current Republican replacement solve. The former is "in a slow motion death spiral," he explains while the latter amounts to little more than "a half-measure." In general, the sunshine state congressman exudes pessimism.