Lawmakers are being careful and taking their time when putting together the American Health Care Act, which might be a source of the criticism of the act, according to Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.
"Watching sausage being made is not the prettiest thing, but at the same time, these are the final details that members want to do to comb through and say how will this exactly work," the Louisiana Republican said Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"We have been waiting seven years," Scalise said. "Some people are saying, why is it taking this long? Some people say it goes too far and some say it doesn't do enough. You are probably hitting the sweet spot. What we are doing is, number one, we've pulled in a lot of ideas that have been passed through the House through the years. The idea of strengthening health savings accounts . . . that bolsters the marketplace."
Getting rid of Obamacare is a priority for the bill, according to Scalise.
"We committed that we would actually rescue people from Obamacare, and we are working through the final details of getting that done . . . our plan lowers premiums. Our plan actually cuts taxes for working families, and it reduces the deficit, and those are the things we have been talking about for years."
Scalise said Obamacare must be replaced.
"You can't fix it," he said. "You can't tweak it around the edges. The idea is Obamacare is unelected bureaucrats tell you what you can and can't buy.
"The bulk of the bill is a good bill that achieves the things we want to do, is putting people back in charge of their healthcare decisions and getting bureaucrats out and lowering costs," the congressman added.
The congressman, the House's majority whip, has remained supportive of Republican efforts on healthcare. He said March 1 he was "very confident" in the work that legislators were doing.
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