(NewsNation) — Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert didn’t mince words when giving her reaction to the GOP passing a health care bill Wednesday.
“Democrats ruined the health care system with Obamacare,” she told “On Balance.” “And now we in the House have taken a good step at some health care reform.”
“Obamacare, which was supposed to be affordable, never was. It was subsidized health care that just enriched insurance companies. And they put an expiration date on it,” Boebert said.
Before the legislation was approved, Republicans and Democrats had been sparring for days, trying to find a partisan package designed to provide a conservative alternative to extending the expiring Obamacare subsidies.
The new bill, dubbed the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, includes policies that are widely popular among Republicans — including funds to pay for “cost-sharing reductions,” reforms to the pharmacy benefit manager industry, and an expansion of association health plans.
The legislation has little chance of passing through the Senate, however, and it does not address the cost cliff that’s expected to hit 22 million Americans when the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits sunset Dec. 31 — a dynamic that’s infuriated centrist Republicans who’ve clamored for months to extend the benefits.
“They want to put this all on Republicans, that this is why everything is skyrocketing, because we are now in this trifecta of a majority,” added Boebert. “Now it is incumbent on the Senate to pick that up and hopefully pass it and get it to the president quickly.”
No timetable on fixing Americans’ health care premiums: Boebert
When asked by NewsNation’s Leland Vittert to provide a possible timeline to resolve Americans’ worries about their health care premiums doubling and tripling, Boebert said there’s no timetable.
“I would love for us to stay here over Christmas break and actually tackle this issue,” she stated. “This is something that we should have been handling. I would love for us to get more traction on this in the beginning of January.”
Republican leaders have acknowledged the party will continue to work on health care issues in the new year. However, Boebert stands firm on one thing in those expected talks: Not extending Obamacare.
“That is not what Americans sent us here to do,” Boebert said.
