Next week's vote on the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill will be close, but the Trump administration believes the repeal and replace legislation is the "right solution at the right time," Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday.
"We're close, and the Graham-Cassidy bill we believe is the right solution at the right time to repeal and replace Obamacare with the kind of reform that will allow states to innovate and to create better quality healthcare, better access for Americans and capture that innovation of democracy and reform that, frankly, our founders contemplated when they crafted the Constitution," Pence told Fox News' "Fox & Friends."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and other Democrats have a goal of "single payer healthcare with everything concentrated in Washington D.C.," said Pence, and that would ultimately put an "enormous burden" on taxpayers.
"The president is absolutely determined to keep his promise to repeal and replace Obamacare," said Pence, urging Americans to reach out to their senators and representatives and urge them, while the Senate takes up the vote on the healthcare bill, to repeal Obamacare.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the bill, proposed by GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, remains short by two or three votes of passing.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, remains a strong holdout on the legislation, saying it does not go far enough to repeal Obamacare. The legislation repeals major pillars of former President Barack Obama's health law while replacing them with block grants to states to design their own healthcare programs.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must round up 50 votes to pass the legislation before Sept. 30, when special rules preventing a Democratic filibuster expires.
Pence on Thursday said "almost anything" would be better than continuing with Obamacare, as that plan is "imploding."
"It's collapsing all across the country," he said. "It's remarkable to see the pattern. We have seen people losing their insurance, losing their doctors. We have seen the average American see the cost of their insurance go up by more than $3,000 ... literally these Obamacare exchanges are collapsing before our eyes."
Pence continued that he and Trump consider Paul "a friend," but "he is wrong about this."
"The Graham-Cassidy bill repeals and replaces Obamacare," said Pence. "It repeals the individual mandate. It repeals the businessman date. It repeals the tax penalties associated with that."
The bill also levels out how money is distributed on healthcare, which "resonates with most Americans," said Pence.
"Ultimately, we will get to a place where the resources available to states are based on a per individual basis ... but, there is time in the days ahead and in future budgets to address those issues as they arise," said Pence. "We really do believe that this may well be our last best chance to stop and turn around and head America back in the direction of the kind of healthcare reform that's based on individual choice, and state-based innovations."
There has been a great deal of worry that the bill won't protect people with preexisting conditions, but Pence insisted it does.
"At the end of the day, we have to recognize that Obamacare has failed and as much as its defenders want to deny the facts," said Pence.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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