One of the House’s top Republicans with close ties to leadership said the GOP’s next step on healthcare reform should be to listen to ideas from Democrats about how to reform healthcare.
“Now I think it’s really incumbent on our friends on the other side of the aisle to keep going,” Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said on MSNBC Friday morning, hours after the Senate failed to advance any bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“There’s a lot of problems with Obamacare, we need to fix it, not repeal it,” he said. “OK, let’s see what your fixes are. I think we should sit down with an open mind and listen to them.”
But Cole said finding those answers won’t be easy. He said in his home state, there’s just one Obamacare insurance provider left, and people are expecting a 69 percent increase in premiums.
“This is not a system that’s succeeding,” he said.
Cole said states that expanded Medicaid access under Obamacare aren’t paying enough to fund that coverage, and said the federal government won’t be able to sustain those payments forever.
Cole said medical tort reform could be a place for Republicans and Democrats to start working together. But another Democrat idea, a publicly funded healthcare option, is not something he can support.
“I’m not for a public option, that’s buying into a failing system,” he said.
