Susan Ferrechio reports for the Washington Examiner on the next steps in the Republican campaign against the floundering Affordable Care Act.
Now that the GOP has succeeded in its long-standing goal of repealing Obamacare in Congress, they are pledging to finally confront the difficult task of producing a Republican-backed replacement.
A GOP health insurance reform plan has eluded the House and Senate for years, but 2016 will be different, leaders are promising.
“Just wait,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., challenged a reporter on Wednesday when asked about the party’s alternative.
House and Senate Republicans are eager to prove Democrats are wrong when they say the GOP doesn’t have an Obamacare backup plan, and that millions of people will be left without insurance if Obamacare is ever repealed. A House committee met this week to generate ideas, and the joint GOP House and Senate retreat in Baltimore next week will put the replacement of Obamacare at the top of the agenda.
Passing the repeal bill on Wednesday, Ryan said, “clears the path to repealing this law with a Republican president in 2017 and replacing it with a truly patient-centered health care system.”