On Monday, Republicans in the House of Representatives finally released their long-awaited replacement to the affordable care act, or "Obamacare." The bill quickly came under fire from Democrats, with even some Republicans and conservative news pundits speaking out.
Fox News on GOP
After eight years in the White House, Barack Obama might be best remembered for changing the entire American health care system.
With Obamacare in place, the uninsured rate has dropped to new lows, despite push back from critics. While far from perfect, the Affordable Care Act has helped millions of Americans gain much-needed health insurance for the first time. Republicans have vowed to replace the signature piece of legislation, which Donald Trump included as one of his major campaign talking points. With Trump in office for less than six weeks, his promise turned into action as the GOP rolled out the America Health Care Act. The roll-out received heavy criticism, which was on display during a March 7 segment on Fox News.
Joining Fox News host Shepard Smith was Republican Rep. Buddy Carter, as the two spared over the proposed health care law. Carter did his best to defend the timing of bill's release, but Smith hit back at the GOP for attempting to rush it to the House floor. "It's the CBO's job as a nonpartisan group to look at a bill that Congress is trying to pass, work through it, figure out what it's going to cost, and report back," the Fox News host said.
"You're pushing this through," Shepard Smith continued, accusing Republicans of attempting to push the bill into law without even knowing how many people will lose coverage. Buddy Carter attempted to highlight how important it was to revamp the health care system, but Smith quickly asked, "You can't wait one week for the Congressional Budget Office to score this?" The conversation continued, with Smith continuing to ask how many Americans will lose coverage, but Carter was not able to give him a straight answer.
Moving forward
In addition to Shepard Smith's criticism, Democrats came out hard against the Republican alternative, predicting that the implementation of the bill could be devastating to the American people. Republican Sen. Rand Paul even voiced his opposition, though his criticism came from the political right, where the senator labeled the bill "Obamacare light."