NRCC Memo Re: Passage of the American Health Care Act

The American people expected us to deliver on the promises we’ve made and that’s what House Republicans have just done.

With the House’s passage of the American Health Care Act, the era of Obamacare is officially coming to an end.

For many in Washington, it’s far too refreshing when members of Congress actually do what they say they will do. But it shouldn’t be.

Since 2010, voters sent a Republican House majority to Washington to repeal Obamacare and rein in the size of a bloated federal government. After running on this issue for years, the time for results has come.

Today, Republicans provided much-needed relief to the American people from the crushing weight of Obamacare.

Obamacare was a bad law when it was passed and it’s even more of a disaster now that we’ve fully seen its effects. Government involvement in healthcare decisions is not the answer. It’s time to put patients in the driver’s seat.

The American Health Care Act provides higher quality, more affordable healthcare options to patients; gives consumers more choices; and dismantles the litany of Obamacare’s taxes that have stifled our economy.

Just in recent days we’ve seen news of numerous insurers leaving state markets and giving consumers fewer choices. That’s not only unacceptable, it’s unsustainable.

Over the next year on the campaign trail, Democrats must answer why they stand in opposition to providing any relief at all from this unmitigated disaster of a law. Many in their party even push for a European-style single payer system that would raise taxes for the middle class, could completely abolish the VA, and control your doctor, hospital, and medications.

Democrats—who are committed to protecting both the status quo and this failed law—have taken to spreading falsehoods about the bill.

Let’s be incredibly clear: This bill also protects those with pre-existing conditions, allows young people to remain on their family plan until the age of 26, and strengthens Medicaid.

Nothing in this bill changes any existing law that prevents people from being charged based on their health status. Moreover, states may only obtain a limited waiver from the current law if they have set up risk-sharing or reinsurance mechanisms for people in their respective states. People with pre-existing conditions who live in a state that obtains a limited waiver and have maintained continuous coverage, cannot be charged more.

Though the NRCC certainly is grateful to those who supported the bill, we recognize that not all in our party did. We constantly tell our candidates and members that, above all, they need to listen to and fit the districts they represent. No one has a better understanding of their constituents than them.

No matter where they voted today, the NRCC supports our members and will be behind them 100 percent in 2018 as we continue to expand our Republican majority.

This is a proud day for our party and our country. Republicans have been fighting Obamacare for almost a decade. Today, we have taken our first steps toward finally repealing this failed law.