A Georgia congressman has followed through on his promise this week to file legislation that would replace President Obama’s health care law with a “patient-centered” approach to health care reform.
Rep. Tom Price, a Republican and a doctor, filed the “Empowering Patients First Act” on Thursday, his third offering to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
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President Obama’s health care law, he said, “empowers Washington bureaucrats at the expense of quality health care choices, and quite simply, the federal government should not be interfering with the most personal decisions in the lives of the American people.”
Democratic lawmakers and other supporters of Mr. Obama’s law have criticized House Republicans’ repeated efforts to scrap the president’s signature effort, deeming repeal efforts a waste of time that would deny benefits to millions of uninsured Americans.
But critics of the law say the overhaul will raise premiums and eliminate jobs when its mandates on individual and employers kick in next year.
Mr. Price told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor this week he would be introducing his legislation in short order.
The bill, he said, would use the tax code to make health plans affordable, although without the mandate to buy insurance that Mr. Obama’s law contains.
Also, he said, it would let people roll over their health insurance from employer to employer, akin to a 401(k) plan; allow people with high-risk diagnoses to pool together for more price leverage and continuity in their coverage; and reform malpractice litigation so that plaintiffs face a higher threshold for bringing their claims.d
