Kentucky congressman says ‘Hell No’ to Obamacare replacement bill

March 23--A tweet from a Northern Kentucky congressman went viral Wednesday afternoon after he used his voting card to double down on his disdain for the American Health Care Act, the Republicans' attempt to replace Obamacare.

Rep. Thomas Massie's tweet features a photo of his "new" voting card and the words "HELL NO" on it. Within two hours after sending the message, Massie, who manages his own Twitter account, could not believe it had collected more than 8,200 likes and 3,000 retweets.

"I didn't expect it to go viral. I thought maybe we'd get 5 percent of that," Massie said over the phone in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday afternoon. "It's another version of Obamacare, in my opinion, and it's not as well thought out. We need to leave the socialism to the socialists. If I thought the bill were a glass half full proposition, better than the status quo, I'd vote for it. But I think it will make insurance premiums go up."

The AHCA would replace the subsidies in Obamacare, otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act, with a flat tax credit that would not account for income or local insurance prices. The new law would also allow insurers to charge older people five times what they charge younger customers, compared to three times under Obama's health care law, according to the Associated Press.

Massie, a Republican, has made his displeasure over AHCA clear on Twitter over the past week through hashtags like #sassywithmassie.

"(The proposal) just won't work and Republicans will get blamed for escalating health insurance costs," Massie said. "The bill doesn't do enough to reduce the cost of health care. I feel the momentum is against the bill. I don't see any of my colleagues changing their votes and they've had 24 hours to switch people from a no to a yes to no avail."

Fernando Alfonso III: 859-231-1324, @fernalfonso

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