Having successfully pushed an Obamacare repeal bill through his own conference, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) is hoping that it takes the Senate only “a month or two” to pass its own legislation dismantling the Affordable Care Act, Ryan told “Fox & Friends” Tuesday.
“The legislation should not take that long. Hopefully it takes a month or two to get it through the Senate,” Ryan said. “Hopefully it takes a month or two. Because we need to give people the ability to plan. The insurers are pulling out very, very quickly. And we need to show the insurers there’s a better system coming. Stay in the market.”
Ryan was only able to get House GOP approval of his own health care legislation, the American Health Care Act, over a series of a fits and starts through the Spring, including an aborted vote in March. It passed narrowly last week after a provision was added to make some of the ACA’s insurer mandates optional for states. The House bill also imposes harsh cuts to Medicaid, repeals many of the ACA taxes and reworks its tax credit scheme for individual insurance.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has kept expectations low for quick action in the upper chamber, where Senate Republicans will be writing a new bill from scratch.
“This process will not be quick or simple or easy, but it must be done,” McConnell said in a floor speech Monday.
