Sen. John Cornyn said Friday he does not agree with his fellow Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, on the Senate GOP's Obamacare repeal and replace measure, and feels confident the legislation will be approved.
"Right now, the Obamacare individual markets, people are experiencing huge increases in their premiums," Cornyn told Fox News' "Happening Now" program.
"We cannot afford insurance companies pulling out of the marketplace and leaving consumers with no choice."
The government needs to stabilize the healthcare market, he continued, while bringing premiums down, reassuring people with pre-existing conditions that they will be covered, said Cornyn, while keeping Medicaid, the healthcare safety net for lower-income Americans, on a "sustainable path."
Cruz has commented that he believes the legislation, which was unveiled on Thursday, still sounds like Obamacare.
Cornyn, meanwhile, denied the bill will perform as a tax cut measure.
"Obamacare raised $1 trillion in taxes to pay for Obamacare, but this affects middle- and low-income people when their insurance premiums are taxed," he said. "Their pharmacy benefits are taxed. We're going to repeal that along with the original mandate."
The process is now in just a discussion draft status, said Cornyn, and negotiations will continue.
"We've invited Democratic colleagues to join us, and so far they have refused," the senator said. "If they continue to do so, we have no choice but to continue to do our best to rescue the people from the failure of Obamacare."
Currently, Obamacare mandates force people to buy insurance they don't want or need, while raising costs in a way to make coverage unaffordable, said Cornyn.
"While the goal of Obamacare was supposed to be universal coverage, we know that about 28 million people are still uninsured in the country," he said.
"What that's done as it's narrowed the risk pools so only older people with more illnesses have signed up, while younger, healthier ones have not, and that's raised premiums for everybody."
The plan also provides tax credits, which also will allow people who are above the poverty level to have access to health insurance, said Cornyn, which to him is a "big improvement."
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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