Earlier this week, the Republican Party finally revealed their alternative to the Affordable Case Act. As expected, backlash quickly followed, with some on cable news having to debunk the claims made in the bill's defense.
Health care facts
Once former President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," into law, Republicans instantly pushed back. Opposing Obamacare became the top priority for Republicans, who spent millions of taxpayer dollars attempting to repeal the law over 60 times in Congress. Though Obamacare is not the perfect solution to fixing the American health care system, the censorious is that it's been a positive step in the right direction, which enabled millions of Americans to gain access to insurance, many of whom did so for the first time in their adult lives.
While running for president over the last year, Donald Trump vowed to "repeal and replace" Obamacare, which kicked into high gear following his election. As reported by Mediaite on March 10, this issue was highlighted during the Friday morning segment of "New Day" on CNN.
Joining CNN host Chris Cuomo was Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, which quickly resulted in the two sparing over the health care replacement. Jordan said that Republicans wanted to remain "consistent" with what was pledged during the campaign, as he did his best to sell the bill to Cuomo and the viewers. At this point, Cuomo fact-checked Jordan on a list of Republican claims about the health care status in the United States.
‘Millions of People May Lose Their Coverage’: Chris Cuomo Grills GOP Congressman on Healthcare https://t.co/BGt4G6jFZg pic.twitter.com/ITOF48QDx5
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) March 10, 2017
"Health care costs are going up," Chris Cuomo admitted, before adding, "That was true before Obamacare that was true after Obamacare, but it was less true after Obamacare." Cuomo then asked, "Is it misleading to say to people Obamacare is the problem?" After Jim Jordan pushed for a more free market solution to health insurance, the CNN continued to push back.
"You use government as if it’s a bad word in this context, but to be fair, there is no place that you’ll find that has this kind of marketplace when it comes to health insurance," Cuomo noted, while accusing the Republican Party of "cherry picking" information to fit its narrative and agenda.
Moving forward
Since the roll-out of the bill, big named organizations like the AARP have come out to publicly oppose it, which has resulted in the White House brushing off the criticism and labeling the group a "special interests." In addition to the backlash expected from Democrats and liberals, even some Republicans, like Sen. Rand Paul, have come out against the GOP plan, which the senator has referred to as "Obamacare lite."