The founder of the House Freedom Caucus says Republican lawmakers need to find some backbone and move quickly on repealing the Affordable Care Act in order to keep their promises to people back home.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Sunday on ABC that Obamacare must be repealed quickly regardless of the impact it has on people’s healthcare coverage in the short term.
“We have to repeal it, that’s what we told the voters we’re going to do,” he said.
When pressed about what that would mean for people who currently receive healthcare coverage through Obamacare, Jordan said the current situation is unsustainable.
“Think about how bad it is right now,” he said. “Folks have fewer choices, higher premiums, higher deductibles.”
Jordan said he and other Republican lawmakers campaigned on repealing and replacing Obamacare for years, and voters responded to that message.
It wasn’t a promise with caveats. It was a promise to repeal the entire law and put in a new system, he said.
“We didn’t tell the American people we’re going to repeal it except we’re going to keep the Medicaid expansion, we’re going to repeal it except for some of the tax increases,” he said. “We said we’re going to repeal it and replace it with a market-based” system.
“We better have the votes for that, because that’s what we told the people,” he said.
