The initial Senate Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is dead in the water and President Trump’s idea of simply repealing Obamacare and then replacing it is a “non-starter,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy on Sunday.
Cassidy, R-La., said on “Fox News Sunday” there is, once again, no public Senate Republican healthcare plan because the Better Care Reconciliation Act — the initial bill made public last month — is undergoing a revision that will change much of its tenets.
“We don’t know what the plan is,” he said.
He added, “The draft plan has now been in serious rewrite. We don’t know the serious rewrite. Clearly, the draft plan is dead but we don’t know what’s in the serious rewrite.”
Cassidy has proposed a healthcare bill of his own with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that has six total co-sponsors. He said Sunday he’s got “reservations” about the Senate GOP plan to repeal Obamacare and he thinks his bill — which keeps Obamacare taxes in place for the most part and devolves federal healthcare power to the states — is the only possible solution.
Trump has floated the idea of simply repealing the Affordable Care Act wholesale if Republicans can’t come up with a legislative solution to repealing Obamacare. Cassidy said doing so would be a betrayal of Trump’s campaign promises because it would cause premiums to spike and cost families more money.
“Non-starter,” Cassidy said about the idea of just repealing the law.
“It’s wrong, I think it betrays President Trump’s campaign pledges.”
