BYRON YORK: Obamacare death spiral a gift to 2016 GOP candidates.

There have been many articles in the last year with some variation of the headline “GOP Surrenders on Obamacare.” The stories mostly concern a tendency among some Republican policy elites to adopt the Washington conventional wisdom that Obamacare cannot be repealed because it has already become deeply entrenched in American life.

Those Republicans might want to reconsider. A series of developments in recent days suggests the Affordable Care Act is in perilous condition and could become even more troubled in months to come. . . .

It goes without saying that all the stuff President Obama said while selling Obamacare — that it would save the average family $2,500, that people who liked their coverage could keep it, etc. — have long ago gone up in smoke.

This is a potent political issue. Republican base voters have never gone along with the party’s Beltway elites in making their peace with Obamacare. Any candidate who pledges on the stump to repeal every word of the Affordable Care Act wins a raucous round of applause. And in light of recent news, look for them to do it more and more.

Wrap it with the — transparently true — overarching theme that our political class in Washington is made up of fools, crooks, and liars and you’ve got a winning narrative!