Rand Paul: The failure to repeal Obamacare means premiums will continue to skyrocket

By Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)

​What will happen now that the Obamacare repeal has failed?  The same thing that was already happening: Premiums will skyrocket. Insurers will exit, leaving monopolies or vacuums, and Americans will have less choice.

How did the GOP lose its nerve and run away from meaningful repeal?

Look no further than the billion dollar insurance companies.

The insurance industry, titans of crony capitalism, whined and whined that repeal alone would cause premiums to rise. Insurers to drop out. Americans to lose coverage.

Really? You mean exactly what is happening now under Obamacare?

What did the insurance companies want? Well, your money of course. It, apparently, is not enough to gouge us with the doubling of premiums; the insurance companies also lobbied, and lobbied hard, for a giant insurance bailout superfund. And, with compliant big government Republicans, they finally porked it up to nearly $300 billion. Obscene.
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The GOP pork-fest offered to exchange Medicaid dollars for insurance profits. No wonder the bill had a 20 percent approval by the public.

Big government Republicans looked at each other, flummoxed that voters would look askance at legislation that takes taxpayer dollars from health care for poor people and gives that money to rich people at billion dollar insurance corporations.

The clean repeal, which I supported, wasn’t perfect, but it would have forced all parties to legislatively resolve the wreckage of Obamacare.

​Read the rest of Rand's op-ed at Rare Politics