Keller @ Large: Rep. Stephen Lynch Talks Failed Health Care Bill
BOSTON (CBS) -- Republicans had seven years to prepare for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare." This week, they failed--so, WBZ political analyst Jon Keller asked Rep. Stephen Lynch, what happened?
"It was all bluster, it appears, because they had no serious plan," Lynch said.
In a satellite interview taped just hours before the House decided to pull the bill because they didn't have the votes to pass it Friday, the Massachusetts 8th District congressman listed several reasons he would be voting "no" on the bill later that day.
"This bill would actually do away with medicaid as we know it, it would also take a couple of hundred billion out of medicare over the next ten years," he explained. "I'm getting calls from my veterans' groups because it also doesn't allow veterans to use the refundable tax credits if they use the VA health care system, so I have all my veterans against it. It takes all the opioid money that we're using, we have a major crisis going on in this country, especially in Massachusetts."
He said the process leading up to the vote (or, what would become the pulling of the vote) was marked by last-minute changes to the bill, leaving congressional leaders with little to no time to actually read the bill.
"The bill's not even in print, and they want us to vote on it today," Lynch said Friday. "This whole process, there has been no hearings on this, unlike at least the other bill, the Affordable Care Act. We had weeks of debate, and plenty of time to read the bill."
Keller asked Lynch why he thought the bill was rushed through the way it was.
"I think President Trump is just trying to make sure that he lives up to his campaign promise--but he has not spent the time to understand how the health care system works, unlike President Obama, who could actually recite the bill chapter and verse, I give him great credit for that."
The two also discussed what Lynch would like to see in health care reform.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
