Paul Ryan says that you can forget about any more attempts to repeal Obamacare or fix the insurance markets in 2017:
REUTERS – Republican lawmakers will not take up a bipartisan plan to stabilize Obamacare insurance markets or try again to repeal and replace the law this year, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday, signaling his party was shelving the matter until the 2018 U.S. congressional election year.
“I think that is something we should do next year,” Ryan said in an interview with Reuters when asked about prospects of the House passing a bipartisan bill that would reinstate federal subsidies to private insurers to help lower-income people buy medical coverage through the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare.
Asked whether the seven-year Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare was now dead, Ryan responded, “No.” But he added, “I can’t imagine we can do that this year.”
Congress has a packed calendar between now and the end of 2017. It includes a major tax cut package that President Donald Trump wants lawmakers to pass by the end of the year as well as legislation to avert a potential government shutdown looming in December.
C’mon Paul Ryan, you know it will be 2019 before anything significant happens on Obamacare. After the failures this year, it’s going to take an election to change the outcome and that still might not even work.
My hope for Obamacare repeal is virtually lost at this point, while my premiums are still skyrocketing. (Yes, I got my letter the other day that show my premiums are going from $695/month to $750/month. Oh for the days of 2014 when it was only $300/month.) I don’t know what America is going to do at this point.