Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Ut., said on Tuesday that the new health care bill is unlikely to go through the committee process and that Senate Republicans are instead creating their own plan for repealing Obamacare, despite the House passing the bill last week, according to The Hill. Hatch also said that it will be a complicated process, explaining to CNN that, once the public "is on the dole, they'll take every dime they can."
A Capitol Hill reporter asked Hatch if the public reaction to the House bill that narrowly passed the Republican-controlled lower chamber last week had any impact on how the Senate would proceed with health care.
"The public wants every dime they can be given," Hatch explained of the public outcry about Republicans' plans to decrease accessibility to insurance coverage for up to 24 million and decrease. "Let's face it, once you get them on the dole, they'll take every dime they can. We've got to find some way of getting things under control or this country and your future is going to be gone."
Twitter, of course, was not exactly pleased with his remarks:
Hatch is one of the "key architects" of the writing a new health care plan that will repeal and replace Obamacare, according to CNN. Under the current House bill Medicaid stands to lose $880 billion over the course of the next decade, something Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price denied would happen. CNN reported:
Hatch is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that has jurisdiction of Medicaid and other health care issues. He is also the longest serving Republican in the Senate.What to do about the expansion of Medicaid is a key sticking point in Senate talks. Some Republicans from states, like those from purple states the expanded the federal/state program for health insurance for low-income Americans, are working to keep it while some conservatives from states that did not expand are looking to get rid of the expansion in order to save money.
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