House Republicans who went out on a limb to vote in favor of the GOP health care bill aren’t pleased it didn’t pay off, according to Congressman Stephen Lynch.
“In the minds of maybe 20 to 25 percent of the Republican House members, they were not happy about having to take a tough vote in favor of a bad bill that’s going nowhere,” he said, speaking on Boston Public Radio Wednesday. “I think they were figuring that if a more moderate version came back, they could vote for that version and sort of pay for their prior sins.”
House Republicans never got that chance, since the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act sputtered and died before making it to a vote on the Senate floor.
Later, House majority leader Mitch McConnell threatened to put a repeal to a vote without a plan for replacement, but that, too, never gained momentum.
Lynch said some of the committees plan to go back to the drawing board for a bipartisan solution that will garner enough votes, though he voiced skepticism at the prospect.
“They’re going to keep at it, but the problem is that even the Democrats realize that we’ve got to try to fix some of the problems with the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “Unfortunately, what the Republicans have suggested so far doesn’t really meet our needs.”
He proposed returning to an earlier version of the Affordable Care Act from the House that he said won over 300 votes there, including many from Republicans.
Lynch said the House version created competition for insurance companies and states, and prevented more taxes on health care.
“It took away the antitrust exemption for insurance companies which forced them to compete; number two, it created a state-sponsored public option so that the states themselves, in markets where there weren’t enough insurance companies... could actually get in the game and offer a low-cost, bare budget health care plan which also creates competition, and then thirdly it prohibited additional taxes on health care,” explained Lynch.
He said the House version solves some of the Affordable Care Act’s problems, and already has buy-in from across the aisle.
“Let’s start with that, because we already know we have a bunch of Republicans on record having voted for that,” he said. “That’s a good start.”
Congressman Stephen Lynch represents the 8th district. He’s co-chair of the Task Force on Anti-Terrorism and Proliferation Financing, and co-founder of the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus. To hear his interview in its entirety, click on the audio player above.
