THE REPUBLICAN PARTY’S BILL TO REPEAL AND REPLACE OBAMACARE HAS CREATED A SPLIT WITHIN THE GOP AS MORE CONSERVATIVE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SAY THE LEGISLATION WILL BE ‘DEAD ON ARRIVAL’
Draft bill takes pounding from GOP critics
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s new bill to replace Obamacare is being savaged by early bad reviews from a wide range of conservatives, with one Republican senator declaring it “dead on arrival” in the Senate — if it can make it through the House.
The White House launched its own effort to defend the draft, with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price saying the bill is “the beginning of the process,” one aimed at helping patients and business owners.
But that defence is being overshadowed by the vehemence of the measure’s GOP critics. Senator Rand Paul derided it as “Obama care lite,” while a group of House Republicans said it would create a “Republican welfare entitlement.” Senator Mike Lee of Utah called the GOP draft “a step in the wrong direction.”
Price, speaking to reporters at the White House, said, “We look forward to working with them and others,” referring to conservative opponents.
A group of House Republicans said President Donald Trump will throw his “presidential weight” behind sweeping legislation to repeal and replace former president Barack Obama’s health care law.
But while Trump earlier in the day praised the “wonderful new Healthcare Bill,” he also added that it is now “out for review and negotiation.”
Influential conservative groups including Heritage Action, the Club for Growth, Freedom Works, and the libertarian Cato Institute also blasted the bill.
“Everyone needs to take a step back,” wrote Michael Cannon, Cato’s director of health policy studies and a strong critic of Obamacare. “This bill is a train wreck waiting to happen.”
Michael Needham, chief executive officer of Heritage Action for America, said in a statement that the proposal “not only accepts the flawed progressive premises of Obamacare but expands upon them.”
The two House committees who devised the plan will begin considering it Wednesday, and the leaders of those panels were dismissive of the criticism in a news conference Tuesday.
Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden said Republicans are “moving in the right direction,” and tartly suggested critics should “actually read the bill.” Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady dismissed the Obamacare characterizations, saying it’s “Obamacare-Gone.”
Before the day even began, an analysis written late Monday for an even larger bloc of U.S. House conservatives — the 170-member Republican Study Committee — derided a key component of a new Republican plan.
It blasted as a new form of welfare entitlement the idea of offering tax credits to individuals who wouldn’t otherwise have access to health insurance.
The 2010 health-care law widely known as Obamacare, passed solely with Democratic support, provided the first federal money to help Americans earning up to 400 per cent of the poverty level buy private health plans.
Those above that income level received no premium subsidy at all. By contrast, the new House GOP bills would create a glide path allowing individuals earning up to $75,000 a year and married couples earning as much as $150,000 to receive a refundable tax credit.
Some Americans earning more than that also would get assistance, though in lessening amounts.
The Congressional Budget Office has not provided an analysis of how many Americans would gain or lose health coverage under the new legislation.
But Larry Levitt, senior vice president for special initiatives at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said in an interview Tuesday that it was already clear that more low-income people would have a hard time affording benefits.
“There will be more losers than winners,” Levitt said, adding that low-income people, people who are older and those in high-cost areas would lose out.