Silke Jasso
Republican representatives’ New Year’s resolutions include having an Obamacare repeal prepared to be delivered to President-elect Donald Trump’s desk by Feb. 20. Vice president-elect Mike Pence met with House Republicans on Wednesday morning.
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“Our first order of business will be to repeal and replace ObamaCare,” Pence told reporters while also revealing that Trump will use executive actions to meet that goal. Pence informed that actions on Obamacare would take place on “day one” but was not forthcoming with details.
While congressional Republicans are excited to see the end of Obamacare and its effects on the healthcare industry, a replacement for the bill has not yet been publicly determined. Because of this, several Republicans are warning their colleagues to provide more details to ensure a smooth transition.
In an op-ed written for Rare, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested that his colleagues both repeal Obamacare and offer up its replacement at the same time, lest “the repealers risk assuming the blame for the continued unraveling of Obamacare.” The junior senator warned against a partial repeal, which would only continue to harm the insurance industry:
My fear is that if you leave part of Obamacare in place (the dictate that insurance companies must sell insurance to individuals with pre-existing conditions) then you will see an acceleration of adverse selection and ultimately mass bankruptcy of the healthcare insurance industry.
Don’t misunderstand me. We should repeal Obamacare, but partial repeal will only accelerate the current chaos and may eventually lead to calls for a taxpayer bailout of insurance companies.
Obamacare required the brute force of government through the individual mandate to make people buy insurance. If you repeal this mandate but leave in place dictates as to whom may purchase insurance, Â you create a business model doomed to fail.
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No matter the way Republicans go about repealing Obamacare, President Obama arrived at Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning to meet with congressional Democrats who are prepared to fight:
