GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana advised his colleagues against repealing Obamacare and replacing it at a later date during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” calling the idea a “non-starter.”
According to Cassidy, a moderate Republican, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) is dead in its current form.
“The draft plan has now been in serious rewrite. We don’t know the serious rewrite,” he told host Chris Wallace. “Clearly, the draft plan is dead, but we don’t know what’s in the serious rewrite.”
The Louisiana Republican — who put forward his own plan alongside Maine Sen. Susan Collins, which currently has six cosponsors — argued his proposal is “the only way to get there.”
“Health care is like no other issue,” he said, adding he thinks his plan would be most effective in preventing insurers from raising premiums. “It touches people in their most personal being. That is why we got to get it right.”
He went on to warn against doing tax reform along with health care in the same legislation, saying he has major reservations about the idea.
“Let’s first talk, Chris, about why they’ve had such a problem passing any plan. They are trying to combine tax reform with healthcare reform,” he continued. “Don’t mix the two. We don’t mix the two.”
Senate Republican leadership, which had aimed to move forward on the legislation before their July 4 recess, has had trouble garnering enough support needed to pass the BCRA.
Conservatives argue the measure resembles Obamacare too closely, saying it won’t bring premiums down in a meaningful way. Moderates have criticized the bill for scaling back federal funds for states that expanded Medicaid.
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