Hatch OpEd in USA Today: We're ready to repeal, replace

Sens. Richard Burr, Tom Coburn and I have unveiled the Patient CARE Act

Voters last week flatly rejected the Obama administration's policies and created a new opportunity to improve American health care by electing a Republican Congress that is firmly committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare.

With a flawed website launch, failed state exchanges, burdensome mandates, mass cancellations of coverage and countless other broken promises paid for by Medicare cuts and a trillion dollar tax hike, it's no wonder so few Democratic candidates campaigned on the merits of Obamacare.

Instead, they ignored the fact that the president's health law has inflicted new costs on American families, individuals and job creators while doing nothing to lower the cost of health care in the U.S.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, premiums will jump by nearly 7% this year alone. Health care costs will outpace GDP over the next decade and, by 2023, health spending will represent more than 19% of our economy.

This is not sustainable.

And, while Republicans reaffirmed their opposition to the law on the campaign trail and called for reforms that will help bring costs down, some naysayers continue to claim our party simply wants to return our health care system to the pre-Obamacare status quo.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Earlier this year, Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and I unveiled the Patient CARE Act, a legislative proposal that would reduce costs by harnessing market forces and increase access to affordable, high-quality care.

Our plan restores the doctor-patient relationship and protects the vulnerable, the young and those with pre-existing conditions, without crushing mandates from Washington.

Republicans will continue to push for a full repeal and replacement of Obamacare in the next Congress.

Conservatives should also take advantage of all opportunities to repeal any part of the law and replace it with better policies that empower Americans, not Washington.

To say Obamacare should not be replaced is to say this new reality — with increasing costs and burdens on the American people — is acceptable. Republicans disagree.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah is the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

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