Congressman Jodey Arrington acknowledged that the steps to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare) would not be clear-cut.
“I wouldn’t have voted for it if I didn’t think, we could responsibly transition to a new bottle of healthcare in our country,” he explained. “I think a lot of this is the other side saying ‘oh it’s going to be a disaster.’ Listen, it’s already a disaster.”
He said transitioning from ACA “won’t be without disruption, it won’t be without challenges.”
Arrington’s district director called him the “energizer bunny” for all of the work he has consistently put in to ensure West Texans are represented in Washington.
“It’s a big deal for a freshman, any freshman, to get waived into three committees,” said Arrington.
“Agriculture (Committee) was very clearly the number one priority for us,” he said. “I’m the only Texas Republican on the Budget Committee, the implications of being on the Budget Committee are manifold.”
He said he was also the only Texas Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee as well.
“The unique and unprecedented opportunity on the Budget Committee is that we begun the initiation of the repeal of Obamacare,” Arrington said.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the repeal of Obamacare, which stated that the “number of people who were uninsured would increase by 18 million in the first new plan year following the enactment of the bill.”
Arrington said the GOP plan to replace ACA would rely on multiple sources.
“A lot of this is going to come out of Health and Human Services, some of it will come out of new legislation,” he explained.
“We’re going to manage this responsibly, and phase in, whether through administrative action, and/or legislation, the model that we think works, with the central tenet of having healthcare companies compete for our business,” he added.
“When they do that, cost (goes) down, quality (goes) up, more choice, and there are many, many other elements of the Republican plan that that will happen as we phase it in over time,” said the freshman congressman.
