Senator Bob Corker, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, on Wednesday released the following statement after voting for final passage of the 2017 budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 3), which will guide the legislative process to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“The Affordable Care Act has led to high premiums, rising out-of-pocket costs, and reduced choice across the Volunteer State, and I am pleased Congress has initiated the repeal and replace process.
“We need a health care system that works for the American people, and I am encouraged that the debate has shifted in recent weeks from ‘repeal only’ to ‘repeal and replace’ in a thoughtful and deliberative manner. It is important to provide the incoming Trump administration, including its top health care official Dr. Tom Price, with time to review the regulatory and legislative steps needed to replace the Affordable Care Act with a responsible alternative that works well for Tennesseans and does not waste taxpayer resources.”
Title II of the 2017 budget resolution instructs House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the ACA to develop legislation that would reduce the budget deficit by at least $1 billion each over the next 10 years. The resulting reconciliation legislation is expected to include language to repeal and replace the ACA.
Senator Corker on Wednesday night withdrew his amendment, which would have extended the deadline for reconciliation instructions, "following assurances from Senate leadership that Congress will follow a responsible timeline for replacing the health care law."
Senator Lamar Alexander has proposed a plan for repealing and replacing Obamacare simultaneously and concurrently, as President-elect Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan have suggested.
In a speech Tuesday night detailing his proposal, he said: “To me, ‘simultaneously’ and ‘concurrently’ mean Obamacare should be finally repealed only when there are concrete, practical reforms in place that give Americans access to truly affordable health care. The American people deserve health care reform that’s done in the right way, for the right reasons, in the right amount of time. It’s not about developing a quick fix. It’s about working toward long-term solutions that works for everyone.”
Senator Alexander likened addressing the collapsing Obamacare exchanges in Tennessee and across the country to handling a collapsing bridge: “If your local bridge were ‘very near collapse,’ the first thing you would do is send in a rescue crew to repair it temporarily so no one else is hurt. Then you would build a better bridge, or more accurately, many bridges, as states develop their own plans for providing access to truly affordable health care to replace the old bridge. Finally, when the new bridges are finished you would close the old bridge.
“We will first send in a rescue crew to repair temporarily a collapsing health care market so no one else is hurt.
“Then, step by step, we will build better systems that give Americans access to truly affordable health care. We will do this by moving health care decisions out of Washington, D.C., and back to states and patients.
“Finally, when our reforms become concrete, practical alternatives, we will repeal the remaining parts of Obamacare in order to repair the damage it has caused Americans. This is what I believe we mean when we say Obamacare should be repealed and replaced, simultaneously and concurrently.”