When Senate Republicans cleared the way in the dead of night this week to repeal Obamacare, they did so with all the courage of a fire-fighting George Costanza. So it was no surprise when, at his CNN town hall last night, Paul Ryan approached the issue with similar bravery. The very first audience question the Speaker faced was from Jeff Jeans, a small business owner and "lifelong Republican" who worked on Ronald Reagan and Bush 41's campaigns.

If you expected a softball, you were mistaken: Jeans happily admitted that while he opposed the Affordable Care Act, he now owes his life to it.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

The bad optics that began Paul Ryan's town hall: Ex-Reagan campaign worker thanks Obamacare for saving his life. pic.twitter.com/bacg2Qk3TL — Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 13, 2017

"I want to thank President Obama from the bottom of my heart," Jeans said. Like many of his fellow Republicans, Jeans opposed the law until he realized how it could help him personally.

After nicely congratulating Jeans on being alive, Ryan launched into a survey of various states and how much insurance premiums have increased this year under Obamacare. This is accurate, although premiums are now coming in line with initial estimates. But Jeans was not talking about money. He said he would be dead without the law. Statistics about rates of premium increase due to inefficiencies in various state insurance markets are pretty much irrelevant when you're diagnosed with cancer at 49 and can't pay for treatment—even if you can afford it—without insurance. Without Obamacare, you can't get insurance if you have a preexisting condition like, say, cancer.

The solution for Republicans is some mythical better program that in no way exists. There isn't even a blueprint for it. Ryan told Jeans Republicans "wouldn't do that"—repeal the law without replacing it—and that they "want to replace it with something better." Ryan seemed to go along with Donald Trump's plan to pass a replacement "simultaneously," although he wavered on the time frame.

Again: There is no replacement. There is no plan.

Normally, Republican suggestions involve keeping the popular parts of the law (support for pre-existing conditions, kids staying on their parents' insurance until they're 26) and getting rid of the unpopular parts, like the individual mandate. But the law only works with the unpopular parts balancing out the popular ones—insurance companies would have insisted their allies in Congress reject it otherwise. That never seems to matter.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Ryan's theoretical concept to cover pre-existing conditions using "high-risk pools" has also been questioned, but at least he has the shame capacity to feel he needs to throw these alternatives out there. On the other hand, there's the president-elect: When asked at his tumultuous press conference this week what exactly the Republican plan was to replace Obamacare once it was repealed, he offered this:

"The plan will be repeal and replace."

Looks like Jeff Jeans and 30 million others are in for a ride.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io