U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., has introduced legislation that would require insurers to maintain medical coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions in the event that the Affordable Care Act is repealed.
Repeal of the ACA, also known as Obamacare, has become a central task for Walden, who is chairman of the House committee responsible for health care legislation. Doing away with the law and replacing it with something better is also a signature campaign promise of President Donald Trump, with whom Walden was afforded face-time this week.
“We’re going to repeal Obamacare,” Walden said in committee remarks Thursday. “It’s not working. It’s left a lot of wreckage around. We’re here to clean it up.”
The nation’s individual health care markets are collapsing, Walden said, and must be rebuilt by repealing and replacing Obamacare. Health care premiums have risen, he said, and patients in some states have fewer medical plan choices because markets are “collapsing.”
He had sharp words for Democrats who would stand in his way: “If you want to walk away and just let (the insurance marketplace) collapse, a pox on your side.”
— Gordon R. Friedman
gfriedman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8209
@gordonrfriedman
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