Rand Paul on Sunday revealed details of a replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act that can be passed on the same day that Congress repeals the controversial law.
The Republican Kentucky senator said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the replacement plan he is offering will “give access to the most amount of people and to the least amount of cost.”
Paul’s replacement plan aims to undercut one of the biggest attacks from Democrats in the fight over repealing Obamacare: that there is no replacement plan.
The plan comes as Congress made the first steps towards repealing the healthcare law by passing a budget resolution. The resolution directs House and Senate committees to start crafting legislation to repeal the law via reconciliation, a Senate process that lets legislation be approved via a 51-vote majority. Legislation in the Senate usually requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
Paul said that it is “incredibly important that we do replacement on the same day as we do repeal.”
His replacement plan aims to take away the mandates on insurance plans sold in the individual market, which is for people who don’t get insurance through work. The individual market includes Obamacare’s exchanges.
The law requires insurers on the market to offer plans that include 10 essential benefits. Paul said those requirements have added costs.
“We are going to legalize the sale of inexpensive insurance — that means getting rid of the Obamacare mandate on what you can buy,” he said.
Another part of Paul’s plan is to ensure that small businesses can group together to buy insurance.
Paul referenced his own ophthalmology small business. He said that if one of his employees got cancer it was “devastating” to insurance costs.
“There is no reason why someone with four employees shouldn’t join with hundreds of businesses that are small to get leverage to bring prices down and also to get insurance that can’t cancel you,” he said.
The Affordable Care Act already has the Small Business Health Options Program, which is a marketplace for small employers that have 50 or fewer employees. The goal of the SHOP program was the same as Paul’s plan, which is to give employers a way to shop for coverage and apply for tax credits to lower their share of premiums.
Paul did not mention one of the biggest sticking points in other GOP replacement plans: government help for lowering premiums.
A plan from the Republican Study Committee issued last week would allow for tax deductions to help lower the cost of insurance. Meanwhile, a plan introduced by House Republican leadership last year would provide refundable tax credits pegged towards age rather than income.
Obamacare’s tax credits are based on income, with the lower income getting more money. Republicans have said that pegging the credit on age is a better approach as older people use more healthcare services.
