Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons are continuing their efforts to stop a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
Over the weekend, Carper spoke to more than 35 state governors at the National Governors Association’s summer meeting.
He says many members of the Trump administration spoke out in favor of the bill at the meeting, hoping to gain support.
“The administration sent Vice President Mike Pence, they sent the secretary of Health and Human Services, they sent the OMB director, they sent the woman who is in charge of Medicare and Medicaid to pitch the administration’s point of view against me," Carper said. "At the end of the day, I think we got the better of them on our side.”
Now that the GOP bill won’t have enough votes to pass, Carper is urging Republicans and Democrats to work together to fix parts of the Affordable Care Act that aren’t working – instead of repealing it.
“And go by something I call regular order where you have hearings – the committees and jurisdictions, the House and the Senate, we have hearings and people come in and share different points of view and put forth certain ideas against other ideas," Carper said. "Have the governors in – the governors' voices need to be heard.”
Delaware’s junior Senator Chris Coons also wants a bipartisan solution to address ACA issues and move forward.
“I hope ultimately moderate Republicans will turn to finding a bipartisan solution to addressing what’s wrong with the Affordable Care Act and trying to make affordable quality healthcare available to all Americans," Coons said.
Republicans are currently pursuing a backup plan to repeal Obamacare without a replacement. Republicans would need 51 votes to do so.
Coons says that would send insurance markets into disarray and cause millions of Americans to lose their insurance. He’s hoping Republicans will decide to work with Democrats and fix the current problems with Obamacare instead.
Those problems include rising premiums and a heavy financial burden on some small businesses that are required to provide health insurance to their employees. Coons plans to release a full list of needed ACA fixes in the coming days.
