Chuck Schumer likens Republicans' repeal plan to 'proposing a second surgery that will surely kill the patient'

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) delivered an extended health-care analogy to warn Republicans against passing an ObamaCare repeal bill without a ready replacement. The repeal now, replace later strategy is Senate Republicans' plan B after it became apparent Monday night that their plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare at once did not have enough support to move forward.

"It's like if our health-care system was a patient, who came in and needed some medicine. The Republicans proposed surgery. The operation was a failure," Schumer said Tuesday, describing Republicans' botched efforts to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act, their proposal to repeal and replace ObamaCare. "Now Republicans are proposing a second surgery that will surely kill the patient. Medicine is needed — bipartisan medicine — not a second surgery," he went on, suggesting the Senate should work toward improving ObamaCare rather than disassembling it without a replacement in hand.

Schumer then whipped out a lengthy list of Republicans who had said just a few months ago that repealing now and replacing later simply would not work. He read each of the Republicans' names aloud. "I would tell those colleagues and all the others, the idea hasn't magically gotten better with age," Schumer said.

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Schumer warned that moving forward with the repeal plan would "hurt" everyone except "the very, very wealthy" and cause our health-care system to "implode." Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) has already released a statement indicating she would not vote for a repeal-only bill because of the effect it would have on residents of her state who rely on Medicaid.