Conway: ObamaCare ‘robbed people of choices’

by Rebecca Savransky - 06/26/17 9:31 AM ET

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway blasted ObamaCare on Monday, days after Senate Republicans released a draft of their bill to repeal and replace the healthcare law.

“ObamaCare is unaffordable, unsustainable,” Conway said during an interview on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

“It’s collapsing, it has benefited some Americans. Millions of others were left out of the process.”

Conway added that millions of Americans have opted out of ObamaCare, choosing instead to “fork over their hard-earned money in taxes and penalties.”

{mosads}”This is to improve healthcare, to make it more free-market, more patient-centered, to give people more choices,” Conway said of the GOP’s plan.

“ObamaCare has robbed people of choices. We have five states and roughly one-third of our counties in this country that have one provider. That’s not a choice.”

It would be great to get Democrats to work with Republicans on healthcare, Conway noted.

“It would be great to get Democrats to the table, but we just don’t see it,” she said. “In fact, their whole motto is obstruct, resist.”

The Senate’s bill unveiled last week fundamentally reshapes Medicaid from an open-ended government commitment to a system of capped federal payments that limit federal spending. The White House says this change gives more control back to the states.

On Sunday, some Senate Republicans indicated resistance to rushing a vote on the GOP proposal to repeal and replace ObamaCare before the July 4 recess.

The Senate’s healthcare legislation currently does not have enough support to pass, according to The Hill’s Whip List.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has little margin for error, as he can afford just two defections from his conference since all Democrats are expected to oppose the bill. Vice President Pence could then be called in to break the tie.

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