Once repealing Obamacare is over and replacing it begins, Democrats will have to get on board with the American Health Care Act, Rep. Sean Duffy said Monday.
"Have [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi, [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer, or [former President] Barack Obama come up with any fix to Obamacare?" the Wisconsin Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"My district in central northern Wisconsin was a Democrat leaning district," Duffy continued. "[President] Donald Trump won it by over 60 percent because healthcare doesn't work for people."
It's been said that in the exchanges there were "great subsidies," he said, "but if you are paying $2,000 or $3,000 a month on premiums and $12,000 deductibles, that's unusable. They need us to reform [and] the Democrats are going to have get on board."
Pressure will come to bear on Democrats, said Duffy, and "they will have to come to the table and negotiate with us. I think Nancy is going to be part of that conversation."
The bill will come up Thursday, and Duffy acknowledged that there aren't quite enough votes yet for it to pass a full House vote, but Trump is going to come in and "make some last-minute tweaks on the bill and hopefully get these guys on board. I'm very optimistic."
He believes House Speaker Paul Ryan will be open to some tweaks in the AHCA, such as with Medicaid.
"Get abled-bodied folks back in the workforce," Duffy said. "Number two, you have older adults, whether you are 60 to 64, where your healthcare starts to skyrocket. We had a $4,000 refundable tax credit; I think that can be bumped up, whether it gets to $5,000 or $6,000. A little generosity will go a long way to making healthcare more affordable."
The Congressional Budget Office has projected that under the AHCA, an estimated 24 million will lose coverage, but Duffy said a big part of that number will be that people will choose not to buy coverage.
"We believe in choice in America," said Duffy. "Let people make the decision. We want people to have the freedom to choose, to have coverage or not. We don't believe in this nanny state that directs us to buy coverage."