Obamacare it will be repealed and not yet replaced
For almost seven years the Republicans have wanted to see the Affordable Care Act, as known as Obamacare gone. President Barack Obama’s signature piece of legislation has been the GOP’s prime target and on February 20, 2017 it will be officially repealed when the bill hits President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
Meanwhile, President Obama was on Capitol Hill advising Democrats not to “rescue Republicans from their big mistakes.” It was a major day of theatre as Obamacare was the main topic of conversation.
The Hill is reporting that The Feb. 20th target was put forward by incoming House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black (R-Tenn.), said Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), leaving a meeting with House Republicans and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Wednesday.
Pence said Trump plans to take executive actions to start unwinding ObamaCare on day one, but did not get into specifics.
In a brief news conference held in the Capitol the vice president made a short statement about their plans.
“It will be an orderly transition to something better … using executive authority to ensure it’s an orderly transition,” Pence told reporters. “We’re working now on a series of executive orders that will enable that orderly transition to take place even as Congress appropriately debates alternatives to and replacements for ObamaCare.”
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Those expecting that there will be a repeal and instant replacement as President-elect Trump said in his first post victory interview on CBS 60 Minutes will be disappointed.
According to multiple Republican members of Congress who attended the meeting on Obamacare repeal there was “no details whatsoever” on the orders they will use to repeal the law and there was nothing having to do with placing the law discussed in the meeting.
There has been a number of bi-partisan lawmakers who feel that Pence’s call for an “orderly” transition comes as healthcare experts warn that the Republican strategy of repealing ObamaCare on a delay without an immediate replacement would cause chaos, leading to insurers dropping out of the market and people having few or no options for coverage.
In the closed-door meeting, the President urged fellow Democrats to not “rescue” Republicans by helping them pass replacement measures, according to sources in the room.
He also floated this idea: Start referring to the GOP’s new plan as “Trumpcare.”
The issue of Obamacare remains too partisan for some top lawmakers.
“Any type of a meeting that we have that’s not bipartisan is not in the proper scheme of things of starting out the new year,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, the moderate Democrat from West Virginia, who said he chose to skip the Obama meeting.
“It’s just not a good situation for us to be in. So if Mr. Pence is coming up here only to speak to Republicans and President Obama’s coming here only to speak to Democrats, I would be concerned about that. Because I don’t know how you change anything — how do you change anything unless we all come together?”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, wrote in an op-ed Tuesday that lawmakers shouldn’t vote on repealing Obamacare until a replacement plan was developed.
“If Congress fails to vote on a replacement at the same time as repeal, the repealers risk assuming the blame for the continued unraveling of Obamacare. For mark my words, Obamacare will continue to unravel and wreak havoc for years to come,” he wrote.
Trump’s senior White House council, Kellyanne Conway, said Tuesday that passing repeal and replacement measures simultaneously would be “the ideal situation.”
“We don’t want anyone who currently has insurance to not have insurance,” Conway said on MSNBC, adding there “are some pieces of merit in the current plan.”
Some quotes used in this story came from ASSOCIATED PRESS and CNN.