Grassley, McCain highlight Republican efforts to repeal, replace ACA

U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and John McCain (R-AZ) highlighted efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act after President Obama cited “growing pains” in a recent speech about the law.

ACA has disrupted many aspects that were working in the healthcare system and failed to fix problems, most notably high costs, Grassley said.

“Iowans who might want to join the healthcare law’s exchanges have had fewer options every year,” Grassley said. “For 2017, Iowans in 13 rural counties who want to take part will have just one health insurance plan participating in their area. Statewide, premium increases for participants will be 19 percent to 43 percent. Many individuals could be priced out of the market.”

Grassley has pushed for passage of the bipartisan Small Business Health Care Relief Act. The bill would enable small businesses to continue helping employees pay for individual health insurance plans.

“Good places to start would be cracking down on frivolous lawsuits, letting people purchase insurance across state lines, improving transparency in health care prices, giving states more freedom to improve Medicaid and using consumer choice to drive competition, which drives down costs,” Grassley said. “Congress and the next president should work on these priorities.”

McCain said the president blamed Republicans, health insurers and citizens for the law’s failures in his speech.

“…The president did the American people a disservice (on Thursday) by sweeping the disastrous situation unfolding across the country under the rug and punting it to the next administration,” McCain said. “Until Democrats finally recognize the failure of this law, citizens in Arizona and hardworking people across the country will be left to pick up the pieces.”

Health insurance premiums are scheduled to increase by an average of 51 to 75 percent in Arizona, McCain said, and insurers are “steadily fleeing” the healthcare marketplace after incurring billions in losses.

Despite Obama’s claims to the contrary, McCain added, congressional Republicans have offered numerous pieces of legislation to replace the ACA.

McCain introduced the Empowering Patients First Act, which would repeal ACA and replace it with a system that provides affordable and accessible solutions and puts patients in charge of healthcare decisions.