California Congressmen from both sides of the aisle say lawmakers should take as much time as they need to get a health insurance bill passed that helps the most people.
A vote on a Republican health care bill that would repeal and replace the existing system known as Obamacare could come Friday. The bill is being pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump.
Congressman Ami Bera is a Democrat and represents Sacramento. He supports Obamacare, but says there are parts of it that should be replaced.
"In certain states where you only have one health plan in the exchange, that is a problem and legitimately you need more competition," says Bera. "What we ought to work on is ways to do that."
Bera says he believes the group of Republicans known as the "Freedom Caucus" are trying to remove coverage from the new health insurance bill. The Freedom Caucus has used its voting power to delay a vote. The lawmakers have been negotiating with the Republican leaders who authored the bill.
Congressman Tom McClintock is a Republican from Gold River, but is not a member of the Freedom Caucus. He agrees with Bera that existing coverage is lacking. He also says Obamacare overly burdensome in some cases.
"Health benefits that force an older, teetotaling couple to have to purchase coverage for drug rehabilitation and pediatric care, those are provisions that the reconciliation process can not remove," says McClintock. "The Freedom Caucus wants them removed. I want them removed. The problem is, you can't do them through the reconciliation procedures through the Senate."
McClintock has long pushed for a complete replacement of Obamacare instead of a piecemeal approach.
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