By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Thursday, June 23, 2017, US Senator Luther Strange (R-Alabama) urged Congress to repeal and replace the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, better known as Obamacare.
Senator Strange said on social media, “Obamacare is in a death spiral. Did you know that 47 counties in America are projected to have no Obamacare Exchange insurers in 2018? Congress needs to act to repeal and replace Obamacare now.”
Sen. Strange told Fox Business Channel’s Lou Dobbs that the Senate healthcare plan, “Can’t come soon enough in my judgement. The people of my State and the country want action. They believe in President Trump and his promise – that’s what I am committed to doing. It’s time to get something out there we can actually review and vote on, and I’m very optimistic. We can debate this forever, but we’ve got to vote. The people are hurting in Alabama and around the country.”
Strange told Fox Business Channel’s Maria Bartiromo, “There is common ground because we’re facing a disaster. We can’t do nothing. We have an obligation to fix the Obamacare mess. That’s the driving force here. There are plenty of opinions in the Senate, but the American people expect us to act and I think that President Trump’s exactly right. That was his promise. We’ve got to act. We can’t just ignore it and let it fail. That would be a real disappointment.”
Strange said, “Obamacare is failing on the ground right before our eyes. There’s no debate about that. But it’s very frustrating to watch my colleagues on the Democratic side come out with attacks on a bill they haven’t even seen yet. They’ve already written it off. They’ve signaled to us they have no interest in helping us at all and that’s very disappointing.”
According to a recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services Alabamians were the hardest hit people in the entire country by Obamacare. Rather than lowering healthcare insurance costs and increasing competition, Alabamians on the private health insurance market saw their premiums increase 225 percent and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Alabama actually saw their market share increase, even though President Obama had used BCBS of Alabama as an example of why the Affordable Care Act needed to be passed. Since passage other insurance carriers have actually left the State.
Senator Strange told Ms. Bartiromo, “I can tell you that Alabama’s been most severely hurt by Obamacare and I’m interested in conservative principles – that’s what I’m going to be looking for in the bill today. So I’m optimistic we’re going to come together.”
Strange said, “Obviously premium increases, high deductibles have been a top priority. What I’m interested in is insurance that actually provides healthcare, not just an insurance policy that doesn’t provide anything. The average business man who’s trying to do the right thing now has a premium that’s higher than their mortgage. That’s just unacceptable.”
Luther Strange was appointed by former Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R) to the vacancy in the Senate created when Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) became US Attorney General.
Strange is running for the Republican nomination in the August 15 Republican special primary. The winner of the Republican Primary will face the Democratic nominee in a December 12 Special General Election.
