McConnell says GOP must pass health bill or shore up ObamaCare


Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that Republicans would have to draft a bill with Democrats to shore up ObamaCare's existing insurance markets if his party fails to pass the GOP's proposal to replace much of the Affordable Care Act. "If my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to the private health insurance market must occur," McConnell said. "No action is not an alternative. We've got the insurance markets imploding all over the country, including in this state."
McConnell last week raised the possibility of negotiating with Democrats if the Senate can't get 50 of the 52 GOP senators together to pass the Republican plan, but his remarks — made at a Rotary Club lunch in Glasgow, Kentucky — marked the first time he suggested the possibility of looking for ways to improve ObamaCare.
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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