Sen. Rubio on Affordable Care Act: The worst is yet to come

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, relatively quiet on Obamacare lately, blasted the program Wednesday, saying the worst has yet to come predicting future problems ranging from a gutted private insurance marketplace to unscrupulous navigators.

Speaking in a phone conference with Americans For Prosperity, a conservative political organization, Rubio said the early problems arising fromthe Affordable Care Act – a dysfunctional website market and people losing insurance coverage because their policies were not ACA-compliant – will be small compared to future problems.

Rubio said he and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., would introduce a measure they’re calling the “Keep Your Doctor” bill, to allow people to keep their existing insurance policies regardless of whether they meet new requirements. One of the surprise fallouts of the Affordable Care Act is that people are discovering -- as their policies are being canceled -- that if they have insurance that does not comply with the new law, they lose it.

“So we’re just starting to see the leading edges of it,” Rubio said. “It’s like a storm. “Unfortunately I’m from Florida so we’ve had our share of hurricanes. This is the outer bands of this storm. This is only going to get worse from here on out.”

Americans For Prosperity has spent $36 million on campaigns last year, supporting conservative Republican candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington.