Responding to whether repealing Obamacare or finding a place for the underemployed and unemployed, North Carolina Republican Senator-elect Thom Tillis told panelist Mike Barnicle that while both need to be taken care of, the GOP needs to come up with a solution to replace Obamacare. After a query from Barnicle questioning why a replacement is even necessary, Tillis said its “fiscally unsustainable,” adding that the law could “threaten what you can do for the very people” it is intended to help.
Mike Barnicle: Senator, in your first few weeks, months in the Senate beginning in the next session in January, what will you consider a larger priority — finding a place for the underemployed and the unemployed to get work or repealing Obamacare?
Thom Tillis: Well, I think you have to have several tracks going. There’s been inaction over the past several years that you’re going to have to have several things moving at the same time. There has to be a solution to replace Obamacare, solve the problem…
Barnicle: Why?
Tillis: Because it’s fiscally unsustainable. We need to remember that we’re talking about something is going to add to the debt, nearly a trillion dollars. It’s going to threaten future reimbursements for doctors and hospitals to the tune of $700 billion out of Medicare. And you’ve also got enrollment numbers and a number of other things that raise questions about whether or not it’s fiscally sustainable. And that could potentially threaten what you can do for the very people that we’re trying to provide a solution to.
At the same time, there are dozens of bills that I understand that have come from the House that are job-creating bills, regulatory reform, tax reform. Things that can get business back on track. The more we’re able to create economic activity, the easier the problems become to fix the economy and start retiring the debt.
[h/t: RCP]