U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart says repealing Obamacare will help the economy

Jan. 05--Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that Rep. Diaz-Balart also represents Hendry County.

WASHINGTON -- Floridians who have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act should not lose their coverage until Republicans develop a replacement program, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart said Wednesday.

"It is crucial that by the time the repeal takes place that we have the replacement already in law," Diaz-Balart said.

The GOP push to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law will happen quickly, although Diaz-Balart said the legislation is expected to make the repeal effective at some date in the future.

"There's a couple reasons why we need to do Obamacare immediately. One of them is because we need to get this economy going, and that is one of the major obstacles," said Diaz-Balart, a Republican who represents east Collier County, Hendry County and parts of Miami, and who serves on the House appropriations and budget committees.

Tax reform would be a "big part of getting the economy going," he said, and to carry out this reform, Congress would have to address the health care law first.

"Here's the issue. Let's assume that right now, in tax reform, I want to cut taxes by $100 million and I'm going to get rid of deductions for $100 million, so it doesn't cost us anything, right?" Diaz-Balart said. "The problem is that Obamacare has a bunch of these different tax things, and if Obamacare is still there ... the numbers are totally skewed."

Dismantling the health care law without a replacement could come at considerable financial cost.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected in 2015 that federal deficits over the next decade could increase by as much as $353 billion over the next decade if the Affordable Care Act was completely repealed because the revenue the law generates in Medicare cuts and tax increases is more than the money it spends to expand health coverage. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget issued a similar analysis Wednesday.

On Wednesday the Senate began the process of repealing the health care law with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio voting to move forward and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson voting against it.

Republicans are using a procedure to repeal the law that only requires a majority vote, or 51 votes in the Senate and 218 in the House. Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate and 241 in the House.

Republicans will need a super majority to approve a replacement plan, which would require Democratic support.

"It's going to require Democrats to also want to take care of the folks that we're dealing with, and we're optimistic that we'll get bipartisan support for the replacement of Obamacare," Diaz-Balart said.

Diaz-Balart said he wants to replace the law with a more cost-effective program that still serves the uninsured.

Keith Arnold, a Tallahassee-based health care lobbyist, said repealing the Affordable Care Act would hurt over a million Floridians if it's not replaced.

"In Florida about a million-and-a-half people have coverage through the exchange, if not more. The repeal of the ACA would have a substantial impact on Floridians, the quality of health care they receive, and the affordability of that health care," Arnold, a Republican, said.

In addition, Arnold said, he was skeptical Congress would come up with an alternative.

"It can't be too surprising to any of us that the mantra of repeal and replace has been reduced to repeal only with no replacement alternative. Not surprisingly, finding an alternative to the ACA is much easier said than done if our objective is to provide health care coverage to the 50 million Americans who went without health care before the ACA," Arnold said.

In the same vein, Mike Ellis, CEO of Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida, which is a private not-for-profit primary care practice based in Collier County that sees people regardless of their ability to pay, said he was also skeptical Republicans would replace the health care law.

"Once they repeal it, every special interest group will begin to jump on this, and I have my doubts they'll be able to replace it with anything," Ellis said.

USA TODAY reporter Ledyard King contributed to this report.

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