Sen. John Cornyn vows GOP will replace Obamacare, but doesn’t say how

Jan. 28--Speaking at a Texas Hospital Association conference in Austin, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Friday sought to allay concerns that Republicans were unprepared to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a new system that will offer affordable insurance to the millions of people who gained coverage under the 2010 law.

"Some have said that the Republicans, my party, are sort of like the dog that finally caught the car," said Cornyn, a Texan and the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. "But with winning elections, responsibility follows."

Cornyn, however, didn't provide any details of a replacement plan, except to say that Republicans want to give states and individuals more control over health care decisions.

The lack of specifics from Cornyn, as well as the skepticism of some in the audience, were emblematic of the potential quagmire that congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump face as they seek to follow through on their promises to undo Obamacare without creating a backlash by cutting people off from health insurance.

One audience member who identified herself as a professor questioned Cornyn over whether repealing Obamacare would increase costs for hospitals because increasing the number of uninsured people who come into emergency rooms "affects their bottom lines."

"Everybody knows that there's things that could be improved on the Affordable Care Act, definitely," she said. "Why throw out the baby with the bath water?"

She urged Cornyn to break ranks with his party to preserve parts of Obamacare, saying, "All we need is one Republican senator or congressman to stand up and say, 'Let's do what's right and not get on the Trump bandwagon.'"

Cornyn wasn't interested.

"We made a commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare. We are going to do that," he said. "We shouldn't fear this opportunity to improve access to affordable health care. ... We can do much better than we have under Obamacare."

Republicans have been calling for Obamacare to be repealed and replaced for more than six years, but they haven't yet reached a consensus on what the replacement would look like.

Cornyn said Friday that Republicans need to focus on the two areas where Obamacare caused the greatest increase in coverage: the expansion of Medicaid, a state and federal program that provides insurance for low-income Americans, and the marketplaces for people without insurance.

The marketplaces, he said, have accounted for a smaller number of newly insured Americans, and many of those are low-quality plans with high costs and minimal coverage.

Cornyn didn't offer a specific solution related to Medicaid but suggested turning control of the program over to states, a proposal Democrats have said is a backdoor way to have the federal government contribute less to the program and allow states to limit its reach.

"Frankly, I've always resented the fact that (states) have to ask the federal government how to spend our own money when it comes to the Medicaid program," he said. "We're going to do our very best to make sure people don't fall through the cracks."

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