Bill Would Set Trigger for Obamacare Repeal if Number of Uninsured Increases

A Louisiana Republican challenging Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) for her seat in the fall has proposed a bill to install a trigger point at which Obamacare would be automatically repealed.

Rep. Bill Cassidy’s Health Insurance Accountability Act provides for the “repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act if it is determined that the Act has resulted in increasing the number of uninsured individuals.”

“Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation with the Census Bureau, shall conduct a study to determine the number of individuals in the United States who are uninsured, and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report concerning the results of such study, including both the number of individuals in the United States who are determined to be currently uninsured and the number of individuals in the United States who were uninsured on the date of enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” the legislation states.

“The Comptroller General shall conduct one or more subsequent studies every 60 days (and submit reports based on the results of such studies) until the Comptroller General makes a determination that the number of individuals in the United States who are uninsured exceeds the number of individuals who were uninsured on the date of enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

Cassidy said the bill is simply based on President Obama’s stated goals with the healthcare law: “to make insurance more affordable and increase access.”

“For many people insurance has become drastically more expensive and deductibles are higher. It also appears that more people have lost private health insurance then have gained. If this remains the case, we should repeal the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “The American people deserve health insurance which is stable, affordable and puts patients in power, not bureaucrats.”

In the most recent polling for the Louisiana Senate race, Landrieu had 41 percent support, Cassidy had 34 percent, and Tea Party challenger Rob Maness polls at 10 percent.

In the upper chamber, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has crafted a bill to ban any taxpayer bailout of healthcare companies. Right now, the law allows Obamacare-driven bailouts for the first three years at the administration’s discretion.

“If not enough people sign up for ObamaCare, insurers will lose money and taxpayers will make up the difference. If not enough young and healthy people sign up, as is currently the case, taxpayers will have to pay even more,” Rubio said.

“These enrollment numbers show that neither enough total people nor enough young people are signing up for ObamaCare, and it’s increasing the risk to taxpayers of bailing out health insurance companies. Congress should take the bailout option off the table right away by approving a bill I’ve introduced repealing this part of ObamaCare.”