Key Republican lawmakers are shifting their goal on ObamaCare from repealing and replacing the law to the more modest goal of repairing it.
It’s a striking change in rhetoric that speaks to the complexities Republicans face in getting rid of the Affordable Care Act. Many of the law’s provisions are popular, and some parts of the law that the GOP does want to repeal could have negative repercussions on the parts seen as working.
“I’m trying to be accurate on this that there are some of these provisions in the law that probably will stay, or we may modify them, but we’re going to fix things, we’re going to repair things,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a key player on healthcare, told reporters Tuesday.
“There are things we can build on and repair, there are things we can completely repeal,” he said.
Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is sounding a similar note. He notes that Republicans plan to use special budget rules known as reconciliation to prevent Democrats from filibustering a vote to repeal ObamaCare. The use of those rules won’t allow all of ObamaCare to be repealed.
“I think it is more accurate to say repair ObamaCare because, for example, in the reconciliation procedure that we have in the Senate, we can’t repeal all of ObamaCare,” Alexander said. “ObamaCare wasn’t passed by reconciliation, it can’t be repealed by reconciliation. So we can repair the individual market, which is a good place to start.”
Not everyone is on board with the new rhetoric.
Some Republicans say their party should be focused on repealing the law and replacing it, not repairing it.
“I’m hearing a lot of members say that they want ObamaCare-lite,” said Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho). “That’s not what we promised the American people.”
HENRY KOTULA 