Rep. Davis Speaks About Repealing, Replacing Obamacare

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 -- Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill. (13th CD), issued the following news release:

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) today spoke on the House floor about repealing and replacing Obamacare during consideration of S. Con. Res. 3, the budgetary vehicle that allows Congress to move forward with repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The resolution passed the Senate last night and is expected to pass the House later today.

Davis speaks about the process for repealing and replacing Obamacare and House Republicans' plan to fix our broken health care system: A Better Way.

Click here to download (http://rodneydavis.house.gov/uploadedfiles/obamacarebudgetfloorspeech.mp4)

Text of Davis' prepared remarks:

Mr. Speaker, Obamacare is not working...

We know this because the average increase for plans in Illinois were between 45 and 55 percent this year, and in some states reaching more than a hundred-percent increase.

We know it's not working because 31 million people are underinsured, meaning they can't afford to use the insurance they have - deductibles are simply too high.

It's not enough to judge this law simply by the number of people who are insured, since it mandates them to buy insurance anyway...

We know it's not working because insurance companies now have a monopoly in many parts of the country where people only have one provider to choose from.

Obamacare is collapsing on itself.

Some say, "then why not work to fix it?"

But it doesn't work like that.

To know why it's not that simple, let's remember how we got here - how Obamacare was passed...

The 27-hundred-page law was rushed through Congress - remember the line, "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what's in it?"

And then that led to 20,000 pages of regulations for that ONE bill.

It's going to take time to untangle this complicated law and we want to do it in a way that is least disruptive to the American people.

The last thing we want to do is repeat history and force a bill on the American people that doesn't lower costs or increase coverage.

But taking this first step to repeal should NOT be mistaken for supporting the status quo or for not having a replacement plan.

We have a plan for fixing our health care system - it's laid out in "A Better Way."

Our plan includes providing refundable tax credits for families to purchase health insurance, increasing competition to lower premiums, allowing people to stay on their parents' health plans until age 26...

And one of the most important parts to me, as the husband of a cancer survivor, is our plan protects those with pre-existing conditions and will help them find truly affordable care.

And the list goes on.

But today's vote simply sets in motion a process that will allow us to both repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that will actually drive down costs, a promise the Affordable Care Act was not able to deliver.

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