With Republicans rushing to try to repeal Obamacare before they have legislation to replace it, there is at least one GOP Senator who is urging caution about repealing the healthcare bill before having a replacement in place.
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Republican senator stands up to slow down Obamacare repeal
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton said in an interview on MSNBC, “I think when we repeal Obamacare, we need to have the solution in place moving forward.”
Cotton, during the interview, said he had no problem with letting parts of Obamacare live for a little while so that the more than 20 million people getting coverage through it can keep some kind of insurance. But Cotton made clear his preference for agreeing on the Republican alternative before voting to repeal the law once and for all.
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“I don’t think we can just repeal Obamacare and say we’re going to get the answer two years from now,” Cotton explained. “Look, this is a very complicated problem. Health care is a very complex issue. We haven’t coalesced around a solution for six years, in part because it is so complicated. Kicking the can down the road for a year or two years is not going to make it any easier to solve.”
Other Republicans Starting to Step Back From the Ledge
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have also signaled that they intend to pursue a “repeal-and-delay” strategy ― acting quickly to strip out the law’s funding and expenditures but leaving elements in place for some period while they work on creating and implementing an alternative.
On Thursday, Ryan said that his goal was to finish crafting that legislation by the end of 2017, with the understanding that it might take longer to put the new system in place.
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