By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--March 6, 2017
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“We’re basically putting into law the Price plan as our replace plan,” Speaker Ryan explained to Opportunity Lives. “It’s very similar to the bill that Tom Price has worked on for so many years, that many conservatives co-sponsored last year. Secretary Price, who previously served as the House Committee on the Budget chairman, represented Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District from 2005 to 2017, introduced his patient-centered alternative to Obamacare prior to President Obama’s signature law passing, and he reintroduced it every subsequent Congress. Empowering Patients First even garnered a Senate companion bill from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Even as the media insist Republicans have no plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, Speaker Ryan’s announcement that the replacement bill would be built upon Secretary Price’s longstanding bill provide insight into the guiding philosophy of a GOP-driven, patient-centered reform package.
Contrary to breathless media reports insinuating Republicans have lost the political will to repeal and replace Obamacare, Speaker Ryan says that House Republicans remain as committed as ever to undoing the law and reforming the system in a way that works for patients. “We’re moving to this next right now in Congress. We’re on track. We’re on our schedule. Our plan was always this spring to take on the repeal and replace of Obamacare, so we haven’t changed a thing,” Speaker Ryan reiterated. “I notice there’s a lot of white noise in the press on this, but we’re as committed as ever before.”I'm hearing that some of the more conservative Republicans in the House and Senate are balking because of the use of tax credits. They see it is merely a different way for the government to subsidize health insurance. Rand Paul, who is not a conservative at all but a libertarian, has obnoxiously taken to calling it "ObamaCare lite." Now I appreciate Sen. Paul's desire to limit the federal government wherever that's possible, but a guy like that can be a real prick when he insists on applying his absolutist philosophy to a challenge like repealing and replacing ObamaCare. We've talked about this many times before, and there is simply no going back to the pre-ObamaCare status quo (which was really not so good to begin with). As much as Sen. Paul may want to see no role at all for the government in health care (and in an ideal world I would largely agree), there is no way to get from this Point A to that Point Z directly. If he's going to act as a saboteur because he's not getting the perfect solution he wants - and Rand Paul is never satisfied with anything that isn't perfect as he defines it - then screw him.
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