House Bill To Repeal Obamacare Will Tell Committees To Write GOP Alternative

Incoming House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif. speaks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority event in Washington, Friday, June 20, 2014. Organizers said more than 1,000 evangelical leaders we... Incoming House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif. speaks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority event in Washington, Friday, June 20, 2014. Organizers said more than 1,000 evangelical leaders were attending the conference, designed to mobilize religious conservative voters ahead of the upcoming midterm elections and the 2016 presidential contest. While polls suggest that social conservatives are losing their fight against gay marriage, Republican officials across the political spectrum concede that evangelical Christian voters continue to play a critical role in Republican politics. (AP Photo/Molly Riley) MORE LESS
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Republican legislation to fully repeal Obamacare is slated for a vote in the House next week, and it will include a provision instructing relevant committees to devise a GOP alternative to the health care reform law.

In an internal memo to Republicans, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced that repealing Obamacare will lead the agenda for February. The bill is written by Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL).

“This legislation will also include instructions to the relevant committees to develop our patient-centered health care reforms,” McCarthy wrote.

McCarthy offered the following talking point as a “messaging opportunity”:

Health care decisions should be made by patients and their doctors, not by Washington, D.C. We need solutions that reduce costs, give every American more control over their health care decisions, and provide access to world-class care with 21st Century cures and treatments.

Republicans say they want to craft an alternative to Obamacare by the time the Supreme Court rules in the King v. Burwell case, in which the justices could invalidate federal exchange subsidies serving some three-dozen states. The party is deeply divided on the issue and hasn’t been able to unify behind a way forward for years.

Notable Replies

  1. This is quite a shocking development. They are all but admitting that they are working in conjunction with the SCOTUS for purely political motives.

    And some people keep saying Roberts is worried about his legacy.

  2. Sure. Instruct the committees to develop legislation. That could work.

  3. Which will be Obamacare with the words switched around.

  4. So in other words, their “replacement” will include going back to corporate Death Panels, lifetime coverage limits, denial of care for pre-existing conditions, unaffordable premiums and co-pays with no cost assistance and, as always, toss in “tort reform” and “selling insurance across state lines”.

    Alan Grayson was right.

  5. Avatar for korvu korvu says:

    Assholes have had a running start of 4 years to draft a replacement. What makes anyone think they will do it now.

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