Sen. Isakson Delivers on Promise to Repeal Obamacare, Calls for Sustainable Replacement

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 -- The office of Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today voted with a majority of the U.S. Senate to begin the process of formally repealing and replacing the failed health care law informally known as "Obamacare" through a budget resolution that provides the tools necessary to repeal it. The final measure passed by a vote of 51-48.

Isakson spoke on the floor of the Senate before the vote on Thursday, saying Obamacare has failed to deliver on its promises of affordability and choice.

"What's happened over the last eight years is pretty incredible," Isakson said. "Rates have gone up tremendously. People have not been able to keep their insurance, and we find ourselves on the cusp of being forced to a government single-payer health care system because the private markets are collapsing."

Isakson cited examples of how Obamacare has failed Georgia and the nation. Highlighting high premiums and broken promises, Isakson described the situation forced on Georgia due to Obama's health care law: "In Georgia where we have 159 counties, up until this year, every county had at least two or more providers providing health insurance. Today in 2017, 96 of our counties have just one carrier."

Isakson also promised a sustainable replacement in which oversight is largely returned to the states in order to help "see to it Americans once again have health insurance coverage at a competitive and a fair price."

"It is unsustainable and impractical, and it's wrong for us to say we're going to repeal Obamacare without replacing it with a plan that we know works," Isakson continued.

Isakson suggested that the replacement plan should be regulated by state insurance commissioners, as has worked in the past, with consumers also having the option to purchase insurance across state lines.

Isakson said that he supports preserving portions of the Obamacare law that made sense, including coverage for preexisting conditions and allowing young Americans to stay covered through a parent's health insurance coverage up to the age of 26.

"Those things can be done, and we ought to do them because they were the right thing to do when we did them and the right thing to preserve now," said Isakson.

Isakson finished his remarks with a call to decisive action on behalf of Americans who are seeking relief from Obamacare's high prices and lack of options.

"It's essential for us to do it, and I plan to commit myself seeing to it that for my part we repeal Obamacare, we replace it with a sustainable program and we return the program to the states wherever possible," continued Isakson. "And we will see to it Americans once again have health insurance coverage at a competitive and a fair price."

Isakson's full floor speech is available to view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRhRnMOmtkQ&feature=youtu.be.

Background:

On Dec. 24, 2009, Johnny voted against President Obama's health care proposal in the U.S. Senate, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare." He voted against the proposal because he believed it was a terribly flawed, unconstitutional law that seeks to put the government in charge of your health care. Isakson has since voted more than 60 times to dismantle or repeal the law.

In August 2016, Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that Obamacare premiums in Georgia would go up by an average of 21 percent next year, on top of double-digit increases in previous years. While Georgians were promised more choice and lower costs of healthcare as a result of Obamacare, the opposite is true. Now, in six out of every ten Georgia counties, the only option for health insurance coverage is Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Monthly premiums for benchmark silver-level plans increased in 2017 by an average of 25 percent in the states using the HealthCare.gov website, including Georgia.

Isakson previously spoke on the Senate floor in September to highlight examples of how the president's signature health care plan has broken promises to thousands of Georgians.

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