Stop the presses! The Republicans are going to unveil their replacement plan for Obamacare — sometime next year. Oh, and it will be created by committee.
That's the latest word from the replacement czar, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). He and fellow GOPers have been promising that, come the day they abolish the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, they will have a new and way better plan ready to go.
But that plan just never seems to materialize. Asked again about it recently, Ryan said for sure one will be hammered together by some time in 2016 — once a bunch of committees have had time to ponder the better mouse trap and contribute their wisdom to the plan.
Recommended For You
Ryan laid out his "timeline" during a radio interview. "We need to have an alternative, and that's something that I'm going to be pushing our congressional committees to develop and to roll out in 2016. I don't have an exact timeline. I don't want to be, you know, the dictator of the House. I'm the Speaker of the House."
Ryan did offer a peak at one plank of this yet-to-be-completed health care platform. He likes an individual tax credit for everyone so they can cut their premiums. Well, heck, who doesn't? Maybe even our elected officials will get one then. Oh wait — they get free coverage gratis of the taxpayers.
Anyway, the Democrats actually thought up the tax credit first, as anyone knows who's applied for it. But the GOP has its own twist on it: it would be tied to one's age rather than one's income. To help the older folks, rather than the poorer ones.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
