Paul Ryan says GOP will repeal and replace ObamaCare 'concurrently'

(Image credit: TASOS KATOPODIS/AFP/Getty Images))

published 10 January 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) declared Tuesday that Republicans plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare "concurrently." "We already showed people what we believe in — what ObamaCare should be replaced with — so we're going to use every tool at our disposal, through legislation, through regulation, to bring replace concurrent along with repeal so that we can save people from this mess," Ryan told reporters. He also said there will be a "stable transition period" so people "do not have the rug pulled out from under them" with regards to health care, a nod to some Republicans' concerns about repealing the health-care act without a replacement plan already in hand.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to be asked at a press conference Wednesday — his first since July — whether he stands by his stated post-election strategy to "simultaneously" repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a departure from some Republicans' push to implement a delayed repeal that could buy lawmakers several years to craft a replacement.