Hoyer Discusses Bipartisan Solutions to Improve the Affordable Care Act on MSNBC

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined MSNBC's "Velshi & Rhule" to discuss the defeat of Senate Republicans’ "skinny repeal" bill on the Floor of the Senate early this morning. Below are excerpts from the interview and a link to the video:

Click here to watch the video.

“We have said from the beginning there are things in the ACA, the Affordable Care Act, that need to be addressed and seems to me that’s the starting point, that’s what's in law. They said they were going to repeal it. They said they were going to replace it. They have not been able to replace it. The reason they haven't been able to replace it is because so many of their Members understand that the Affordable Care Act is working in many respects and therefore don't want to see jettisoned, for example, Medicaid expansion. Republican governors throughout the country thought that would be very harmful to their people. So I think it's disingenuous to say okay, Democrats we failed to do something, so now it's your turn. What Mitch McConnell said was as you recall, ‘look, if this doesn't pass, we'll have to work with Democrats.’ Well I'm sorry that he thinks he has to work with Democrats. We're open to working with our Republican colleagues. Certainly, I’m open to working with Tom Cole, who is a good friend of mine, and we can move forward. There are things that need to be fixed. The small market is not working as well as it should, and there are counties don't have coverage. We need to make sure that middle class taxpayers are not driven out of the market because of costs.”

“…We want to make sure the [cost-sharing reduction] payments, the payments to insurance companies for people who can't afford deductibles and co-pays, would be made and be permanent and funded and be stabilized. That would stablize the market. The reason Blue Cross Blue Shield had a substantial increase in the state of Maryland, they said half of the increase is related to the uncertainty created by the Trump Administration in terms of the mandate of having everybody included in the insurance process and also by the payments to the insurance companies to advertise their costs, to in talking to the Republicans about some of the things that they talked about in terms of health savings account, competition across state lines.”

“We're ready to work with them and we’re ready to work across the board on the issues that they identify. But we're not prepared to kill the ACA, which we think is working and they are wrong in saying it is imploding. It is working in almost every area of the country. There are some areas that it's not, and we need to work on those areas.”