Republicans emerged from a Thursday huddle over an Obamacare replacement with few details but one big messaging point: Americans won’t instantly lose their health plans.
Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said few details have been ironed out for how Republicans will repeal and replace the healthcare law next year. His committee has significant jurisdiction over the Affordable Care Act.
But he hit back against advocates for the healthcare law who have said 20 million Americans could lose their coverage if Congress repeals the law.
“The new big lie after ‘if you like your healthcare plan you can keep it,’ is ’20 million Americans will lose their health coverage,'” Brady told reporters, referring to President Obama’s much-mocked promise that people could keep coverage they liked under his health reform law.
“That is simply not true,” he said. “Republicans will provide an adequate transition period.”
If the healthcare law is repealed, about 24 million fewer Americans would have health coverage by 2020, according to a July 2015 estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.
But Brady stressed that Republicans will ensure people can maintain coverage as President Obama’s healthcare law is phased out and their own reform ideas are phased in. He said a replacement plan, which could be modeled after the “Better Way” proposal over the summer from House Speaker Paul Ryan, will be “dramatically different” from Obamacare.
“If there’s one message here, it is we’re giving Americans peace of mind going forward on healthcare,” Brady said. “Obamacare does not stop on Jan. 20.”
