House Republicans Prepare to Craft Legislation to Repeal and Replace Obamacare

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Dec 16, 2016

House Republicans Prepare to Craft Legislation to Repeal and Replace Obamacare

House Republicans are working on a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which they say they will present “as fast as humanly possible.”

According to The Washington Examiner, President-elect Donald Trump wants to sign a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, within the first few months of being inaugurated.

It is yet unclear which strategy Republicans will take in repealing and replacing Obamacare.

They may go for a more piecemeal approach and introduce reforms gradually which will perhaps be more palatable to Congressional Democrats, most of whom support Obamacare.

The other tack Republicans may take is to attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare in one overarching measure.

Whatever approach lawmakers settle on, Republicans say they want healthcare to be available and affordable to everyone, but they don’t want to mandate that everyone has to have it.

"It's universal access," a senior GOP aide said. "Our goal here is to make sure everybody can buy coverage or find coverage if they choose to."

Republicans are also discussing which, if any, elements of Obamacare they want to keep. Trump has said that he likes that, under the Affordable Care Act, children can remain on their parents’ insurance up to the age of 26.

Although Obamacare ran into some hiccups through its rollout, if it is repealed, millions of people will likely lose their health insurance.

House Republicans have stressed above all that they intend to use “regular order” in repealing and replacing Obamacare, which means they will not try to craft legislation secretly and quickly push it through.

"He's very serious about public litigation of these issues, moving them through the committee process through regular order," a senior GOP aide said of House Speaker Paul Ryan.   

 

Photo courtesy: picserver.org

Publication date: December 16, 2016



House Republicans Prepare to Craft Legislation to Repeal and Replace Obamacare