A House Democrat admitted Tuesday morning that passing Obamacare into law in 2010 without a single Republican vote was one of the “worst things” Congress could do, but said regardless that it’s now time for Republicans and Democrats to come together to fix the law.
“I think one of the worst things that happened on the Affordable Care Act is that it was all Democrats,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., on CNN. “Republicans and Democrats have got to start working together.”
Democrats in 2010 didn’t hesitate to pass the law over universal objections from Republicans, and President Obama to this day argues that the bill already included several Republican ideas that the GOP suddenly rejected. Dingell wasn’t in office when it passed, but her husband, retired Rep. John Dingell, was.
Republicans have said there was no compromise at all in the process, and that the process was one in which Democrats debated with each other over how best to give the federal government a broad, new role in people’s healthcare.
After several months of news about insurers leaving Obamacare over rising costs, the Obama administration announced Monday that average Obamacare premiums for plans from the federal government would rise 25 percent. When lower price hikes are counted from states running their own marketplaces, the average premium increase will be 22 percent.
That has Democrats saying a fix is needed, one that involves congressional Republicans. But Republicans continue to say they want to repeal the law, not fix it.
Dingell said she doubted Republicans want to repeal the law entirely, and encouraged them to work with Democrats on fixing it.
“No law is perfect,” she said. “We need to go in and look at making changes, but we need to do it together.”
