Republicans’ health care fix is still a government Band-Aid

Republicans are poised to pass a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, with the House voting Thursday on a health care deal that has mollified both moderate Republicans and the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

On Thursday’s “The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson,” Doc Thompson wondered why Republicans have forgotten about free market solutions now that they control Congress and the White House and warned that Democrats will be “screaming for single-payer” not far down the road.

“Government programs don’t go away; it doesn’t. It just becomes ‘well, we didn’t throw enough money at the solution, there wasn’t enough control,’” Doc said.

“Let’s add more regulation and money,” Kal Elsebai chimed in. “That’s really depressing.”

Moderate lawmakers were concerned the bill took too many protections from patients with pre-existing conditions. GOP Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Billy Long (R-Mo.) changed their votes from “no” to “yes” after President Donald Trump said he would back an amendment that funds high-risk pools and helps cover patients with pre-existing conditions, CNN reported. The provision would spend $8 billion over the next five years.

The House Freedom Caucus, a collective of conservative members of the House, endorsed the new health care bill in late April after the MacArthur-Meadows amendment was added. The amendment allows states to seek exemptions to Affordable Care Act provisions that ban insurers from charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions.

“There’s only a handful of people, like Freedom Caucus members, that really support the platform of the Republican Party,” Doc noted.

To see more from Doc, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson” weekdays 6–9 a.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.