Senator Marshall: Our Healthcare Plan Will Turn Patients Into Consumers Again
Senator Marshall Joins NewsNation to Discuss The Schumer Shutdown, the ACA, & The Filibuster.
Washington – On Sunday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation’s The Hill Sunday to discuss the current proposal to open the government, the Republican alternative to the UnAffordable Care Act, and the discussions around ending the Senate filibuster.
Click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall’s full interview.
On the newest package proposal to open the government and end the Schumer Shutdown:
“Chris, I think that this is a step in the right direction. I know the Democrats have worked very hard with Senator Susan Collins, our Appropriations lead, to figure this next step out. So, we would extend the government staying open until sometime end of January, and then we would add this mini bus. And I think most importantly, that would include some SNAP dollars, VA dollars as well. So, I think it’s a step in the right direction, and at least I think there are serious discussions going forward about what it would look like to fund the government on a long-term basis.”
On reforming Obamacare and revamping the Health Savings Account (HSA) program:
“Right, so this is something Rick Scott, Bill Cassidy, and I have been working on for years. What we want to do is stop the $150 billion every year that we’re giving to insurance companies. Let’s give at least a part of these Biden-era Obama subsidies, let’s give those to the people. Turn them into consumers. Again, this is about $35 billion a year. We would put it into an HSA and turn you into consumers again. Certainly, for the people under 400% or less [of the federal poverty level], that’s about $122,000 a family. I’m talking about the 24 million people on Obamacare right now. I’m not talking about Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance you get through your employer, so this is the people on Obamacare.
“I think the challenge is what to do with the people over 400% I think there are several dials; I don’t want to leave them out to dry. We need to wind that down somehow. I mean, it doesn’t make a lot of sense that the federal government’s involved with a family that’s making $200,000 a year, helping subsidize their insurance. Let’s go after the real problem – the real problem is a lack of transparency. We have legislation to fix that. The real problem is we’re giving money to insurance companies rather than letting patients be consumers again.”
On how the HSA program would be funded:
“Okay, I think number one, we start with the fraud. Think about this – I think there’s $25 billion of fraud. Of the 24 million people on Obamacare, 35 to 40% of them never make a claim. These are ghost people. They’ve been falsely enrolled by fraud. So I think we go after the fraud, the waste, and the abuse. Let’s take that money, maybe set up some type of reinsurance pool. I think at the end of the day, as we start giving money to consumers, and this money grows in their own healthcare savings account, maybe someday, when they retire, we can take a portion of that and put it into the retirement account, even.”
On whether or not the Senate should end the filibuster:
Senator Marshall: “So, actually, every day that this government is shut, I start leaning towards nuking the filibuster. Okay, so in my world, I wish it was enshrined in the Constitution. My biggest fear is that if we don’t do it, the Dems will. And the same 10 people we’re counting on across the line and open the government are the same 10 people that folks are counting on to prevent the nuclear filibuster ending on the Dem side, and they all voted for it just two years ago.”
Chris Stirewalt: “So you’re telling your fellow filibuster fans in the Democratic Party, help you out now. Get the pressure off. Get the government reopened so that you can table this discussion?”
Senator Marshall: “I think that’s accurate. I still would like to enshrine it in the Constitution. I’d like to get them on record agreeing that it should be in the Constitution as well. But it certainly is one more bargaining point. You can imagine President Trump out there using this as a bargaining point, could you?”
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Contact: Payton Fuller
