Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., said Friday on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" it was "unfortunate" that 17 of his Republican colleagues in the House voted to restore the lapsed Affordable Care Act subsidies because the law is failing Americans and is ripe for reform.
Rose argued the ACA, also known as Obamacare, has driven up costs and empowered insurers and middlemen, leaving patients with fewer choices and less control over their own healthcare.
"Democrats gave us a healthcare program in America, the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare – it might be better called the Unaffordable Care Act – that really broke healthcare in this country," Rose said, pointing to "costs rising dramatically" and "insurance costs tripling" over the last decade.
He said Washington's current approach of pouring taxpayer dollars into insurer subsidies does not fix what families experience at the doctor's office or pharmacy counter.
"Further subsidizing the big, powerful, multibillion-dollar insurance companies is not the answer," Rose said.
The Tennessee Republican also warned that continuing subsidies without structural change is fiscally reckless as the national debt climbs.
"Continuing to subsidize a broken system with taxpayer monies when we're $38.5 trillion in debt is not the answer," he said.
To illustrate the kind of red tape he says is now routine under the ACA, Rose described repeated medication switches mandated by a benefit manager under his own plan.
"I just was forced to change medications for the third time in one year," he said, calling it a common frustration for patients.
Rose said that healthcare should work like other sectors of the economy where competition lowers costs and improves quality.
Asked whether he could support a temporary extension of the expired subsidies, Rose said he might consider a short-term bridge but "only because it might buy time to undertake the real reforms that I'm alluding to."
Rose rejected what he described as a long-term extension with no changes, insisting the current model has already been tested and failed.
"It has not worked," he said. "The jury is in. The verdict is in on that."
He said reform should "put the money in [patients'] hands," empower families to make choices, and let the market "do its job of controlling costs" while driving innovation.
Rose also called on the Senate to move faster on legislation, noting the House sent it "well over 200 bills" last year and the upper chamber "hasn't acted."
"So, the Senate's got to get off of their butts, with all due respect, and start getting the work done that we're doing over on the House side," he said.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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