Senate Votes on Dr. Rand Paul’s Obamacare Repeal Amendment

WASHINGTON, July 26 -- The office of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., issued the following news release:

Today, the Senate voted on U.S. Senator and physician Rand Paul's amendment, the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act, which was introduced as Amendment No. 271 to the American Healthcare Act of 2017 [HR 1628] last night. The vote was 45-55.

Dr. Paul released the following remarks:

I'm a physician, an eye surgeon. I've spent my entire life in medicine. I have seen the disaster that is Obamacare up close.

Let's review why we are here. Why must we repeal Obamacare?

Obamacare premiums have doubled in the individual market in just a few short years.

Obamacare insurance rules and mandates have caused 4.7 million plan cancellations across 30 states.

800,000 fewer jobs because of Obamacare mandates and costs.

50% of Americans have only one choice in insurance.

Many counties now have NO insurance choices. 25,000 Kentuckians who make less than $25,000 a year pay Obamacare FINES instead of getting insurance, because they can't afford the prices. Kentuckians who can't afford Obamacare Insurance pay over $16 million in fines.

This bill is a clean repeal - though only a partial repeal. Arcane Senate rules prevent a complete repeal from being considered today. So, this bill is just the beginning. This bill begins to unravel the nightmare of Obamacare.

Let me be very clear, large parts of Obamacare remain after this repeal bill today. What this bill does, though, is force both sides to come together to find a bipartisan solution during the two year transition.

The bill gives us a two year window for both sides of the aisle to come together to discover how we can get MORE insurance for MORE people for LESS cost.

Currently there are still 27 million people without insurance even after Obamacare. Half of them say they can't get insurance because it is still too expensive. One answer to this terrible situation is to legalize the formation of nationwide health associations.

We need to do more for people to get insurance. I want everyone in America to be able to join a group, for protection against illness and to bring costs down.

Right now, if you have group insurance, if you work for a large corporation like Toyota or Ford, you're protected if you get really sick. You don't lose your job or your coverage. But if you're an individual or small business, you are left out. I want to change the rules to allow nearly any group to offer insurance, From your local Chamber of Commerce to your credit union, to your professional association.

Instead of talking about how many fewer people we can cover, let's talk about how many more we could cover if we legalize choice.

We also have to bring competition to healthcare, and let the market bring down prices. We can only do that by dramatically expanding the size and scope of Health Savings Accounts.

Since we won't be doing that today, we have more work to do, and we should keep working at it.

But we have to start somewhere. And where we should start is where we all promised we would be - here to repeal Obamacare.

We all ran on it. All but one of us voted for it in 2015. It is simple. If you are against the taxes and mandates of Obamacare you have an obligation to vote for this bill today.

Of course it isn't the last word. Some may want more repeal, and we can try that. Some have different replace ideas - I'm one of those people - and we have to keep working on THAT. But today let's pass a repeal, one with a two year window to wind down, and let's do what we told the American people we would do.

There are some, especially on the other side or in the media - or both - who ask, "Can Republicans govern?"

That's a good question. I say yes, but I tell you this - it's hard to say yes if we cant do something as simple as keeping our word. As simple as voting today how we voted before, when we were asking to be in charge.

If you tell people you're going to do something, do it. It's just that simple.

Let's repeal Obamacare.