The original Senate Republicans' healthcare bill will not pass as presented, but one that would give more power back to the states would have a better chance, if it doesn't do what Obamacare did, Sen. Bill Cassidy said Monday.
"That's why we've been pushing for the Patient Freedom Act," the Louisiana Republican told Fox News' Fox & Friends" program, referring to a bill he has sponsored.
"It returns power to patients and states."
Cassidy said he's been working on a replacement plan for different parts of Obamacare since the days when he was elected to the House of Representatives, including a Medicaid reform bill and then the Freedom Act.
"This is years of work," he said. "When I was elected, I looked at Obamacare and said this isn't going to last. It gives power to a Washington bureaucrat, not to a patient, so I've been working on a plan and so have some of my colleagues."
He continued that he does believe lawmakers need to get the replace and repeal bill right, and even a bill does not come now to end Obamacare, one will eventually pass.
"Obamacare takes power away from patients," said Cassidy. "In our society, people want to make the decisions important to them and make them for themselves."
Cassidy also thinks the Patient Freedom Act can get 60 votes, and that it does not work from the Obamacare template.
"We get rid of the individual mandate, as one example," he said. "We give states the option to enroll folks, make it very easy to enroll folks who are eligible for a credit. That expands your risk pool."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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