Hoyer Discusses Republican Effort to Repeal the Affordable Care Act Without Offering a Replacement on MSNBC

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) appeared on MSNBC this morning and discussed the recently announced investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General and the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act without offering a replacement. Below are excerpts from the interview and a link to the video.

“I think what the Inspector General needs to do is [ask] ‘were the proper policies followed? Do the facts justify the action that was taken?’ Not so much for what happened in the past, but for what ought to be done in the future. I think that it's an appropriate step to take to see whether or not that's in fact the case. Because, obviously, some people believe that the action taken had an effect on the election. So what you want to ensure is that going forward, if in fact it had an effect, that that does not happen again.”

“[Republicans] have had 65 opportunities to offer an alternative when they’ve wanted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They have not, to this date after seven years, offered an alternative. President-Elect Trump has not offered an alternative, other than to say ‘you're going to have great health care.’ Well, that's fine. Then put on the table what that means, how it will be done, how much will it cost, what are the provisions that will be included. The reality is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act will affect every American, not just those who have participated in the exchanges, but… every American who has their insurance through their employer. So we're going to continue to oppose the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which we think has had a very positive effect and literally 30 million Americans have insurance that didn't have it before. And millions and millions and millions of other Americans, hundreds of millions, frankly, have a better health care program than they had before the Affordable Care Act.”