Although they haven't actually begun putting pen to paper, a group of House Republicans swear their replacement for Obamacare should arrive within a month.
Republican leaders were unable to deliver an alternative over the past six years but the group's leader says they just need a little more time.
"Give us a little time, another month or so," House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) told reporters this week. "I think we’ll be pretty close to a Republican alternative." [...]
For now, the group is still in "listening mode," Upton said. When asked who they are listening to, Upton said: "You name it – the world."
I assume "the world" does not include the tens of millions of people who gained coverage thanks to Obamacare and certainly not the millions covered under Medicaid expansion.
This group's mission, which they chose to accept, was given to them by Impossible Missions Force director Paul Ryan. They haven't been tasked with stealing precious information from an underwater bunker protected by lasers, but their mission is no less challenging. They must craft an alternative healthcare plan that somehow reduces costs and increases coverage beyond that of Obamacare.
All the best ideas conservatives had for doing that in the past were actually incorporated into Obamacare before they started calling it "Obamacare;" before they turned against their own ideas.
Given that Speaker Paul Ryan tasked them with this mission, we can safely assume it will not expand coverage. Ryan has spent the past six years attempting to repeal Obamacare, turn Medicaid into a block-grant system, and turn Medicare into a glorified coupon program. Ryan's latest budget that House Republicans failed to affirm last week includes a repeal of Obamacare and trillions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid.
Ryan says he will present his own policy platform including a replacement for Obamacare ahead of the GOP convention, but the group he tasked with creating a plan is still in "listening mode." They haven't written a word.