Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Representative Greg Walden (R-Hood River) provided an update on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s work on healthcare during a news conference.
When speaking about the potential repeal or replacement of former President Barack Obama signature healthcare legislation, Walden said, “…I think you’re gonna see us come forward with a replacement bill after we repeal that makes sure people have to affordable healthcare for the first time.”
Walden said his committee has spoken to governors from across the U.S. that understand the current healthcare situation is “not sustainable.”
According to a press release from Rep. Walden’s office, the committee has held hearings in recent weeks looking beyond the Affordable Care Act.
According to an NBC News report, Republicans’ current plan to repeal and replace the ACA is a multi-stop path that requires budget reconciliation to partly repeal the act by a majority vote and install some elements of reform. After that, negotiation with Democrats is necessary to achieve a full replacement, which would require 60 Senate votes.
In the meantime, Rep. Walden emphasized state-level innovation. “Our state of Oregon has had quite a bit of innovation over the years. We have the CCOs in place that have brought better health care outcomes at lower costs. There are great ideas out there in our states, but right now they have to come back and beg permission from the federal bureaucrats to be able to do anything innovative. We want to give states flexibility and we want to give people better health care. We’re going to accomplish both in legislation we’ll be marking up in the near future.”
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