With the Mueller Report in the rear-view mirror, President Trump says he and his Republican colleagues will become the “party of healthcare”.
The party failed to pass an Affordable Care Act repeal in 2017 despite a Congressional majority, but Senator John Kennedy says they won’t be giving up on efforts to undue the nine-year-old Obamacare.
“It’s been an unmitigated, unconditional, unequivocal disaster, and I regret that. I wish it had worked, but it hasn’t, and we need to get rid of it. Tear it out by the roots and start over.”
The President authorized an effort by the Department of Justice to maintain a decision in the New Orleans based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals to dismantle the ACA.
The last effort to undue Obamacare is credited in part by analysts with ushering in the new Democratic House majority. One of the primary concerns was that Republicans had no replacement plan ready to pass Congress if they did undo the law. Kennedy says this time around that must change.
“We can’t tear the Affordable Care Act out by the roots until we have something to put in it’s place because we can’t leave the American people without coverage.”
Real Clear Politics average of polls shows the ACA has 50 percent approval, and 40 percent disapproval.
But the effort will likely face even more challenges now than it did in 2017 with Democrats in control of the House. Kennedy says that may complicate the effort.
“From a Republican point of view in terms of getting everything i want, I suppose you could say it could be hard. But in some ways it could be easier, if everyone is in good faith.”
