Senate Republicans Move Forward with Plans to Repeal the Affordable Care Act

President Obama met with Senate Democrats today to discuss strategies to save his signature health care law. Meanwhile Senate Republicans have already introduced a budget resolution that would unravel large pieces of the Affordable Care Act with a majority vote.

However, Republicans have yet to release a replacement plan, instead saying they will repeal, but delay implementation of the law for a couple years. Senate Democrats, including Joe Manchin, are concerned that if the law is repealed without a replacement lined up to take its place, hundreds of thousands of people could lose their health insurance.

“ I said if you’re willing in 2 or 3 years, you’ve been talking about it for 6 years, why don’t we sit down and fix it and vote on each one to fix it that way nobody loses anything,” said Manchin.

Manchin argues that while there are pieces of the healthcare law that need to be fixed, the bones of the law are good and hugely benefit West Virginians. Instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, he says, let’s introduce legislation that strengthens, rather than dismantles the law. However Manchin acknowledges that since President-elect Trump built part of his campaign around the cry “repeal the Affordable Care Act,” fixing it may not be a viable solution at this point. 

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.