Racine Mayor John Dickert
The nation’s mayors are talking about health care in Washington D.C. this week. The U.S. Conference of Mayors annual winter meeting ends Thursday — the day before Donald Trump is inaugurated president.
Racine Mayor John Dickert says mayors are trying to avoid partisan “rock throwing” on the issue of health care, and stick to the facts. “The fact is that if you take away the Affordable Care Act and throw 20-30 million people out on the street and say ‘you can’t get health care now and we don’t know when we’re going to get it done,’ we have to deal with these folks.”
It remains unclear what exactly the GOP Obamacare replacement plan will look like. “We’re hoping that calmer heads prevail, and instead of throwing sticks and stones at each other, we work together as the mayors do on a nonpartisan level, and come up with a plan that works for the entire country,” Dickert said. “Otherwise, you’re going to leave a lot of people in some very, very difficult times.”
Republicans in Congress say they expect to have a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act within 100 days of President-elect Donald Trump taking office. That’s according to House Speaker Paul Ryan, who told FOX 6 News in Milwaukee that Republicans will make certain that no one currently covered by the ACA will lose coverage during the transition period.
“However long that transition’s going to take, we’re going to make sure that the rug doesn’t get pulled out from under people,” Ryan said. The Janesville Republican also said that some provisions of ObamaCare will remain in the Republican alternative. “Our entire premise has always been we want to give people to affordable coverage, regardless of whether you have a preexisting condition or not.”
Donald Trump has said he’ll unveil his proposal for replacing the ACA once the Senate approves his nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Georgia congressman Tom Price.