Erin Kelly

USA TODAY

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that Republicans will introduce a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare when lawmakers return from next week's recess.

He said Republicans are waiting to release the legislation until the cost of the bill is estimated by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation.

"It has become increasingly clear that this law is collapsing," the Wisconsin Republican told reporters at his weekly news conference. He cited Tuesday's announcement by Humana to pull out of Obamacare's health exchanges as another sign that the current system is failing.

"It will keep getting worse unless we act," Ryan said.

He said the replacement bill would give consumers the power to choose their own health care plans in a more competitive marketplace. Ryan indicated that tax credits for consumers are likely to replace the government subsides currently provided to about 85% of Americans who purchase their health coverage from the Obamacare exchanges.

"A tax credit is a fixed amount (for consumers) to go buy the health plan of their choosing," Ryan said. "What we're proposing is a patient-centered system where patients get to decide what to do."

The speaker said Republicans "would love to have support from the other side," referring to Democrats. But he said it's clear Democrats don't want to support the GOP plan.

"They want to go down the socialized medicine path," Ryan said, referring to some Democrats' support for a "public option" that would create a government-run health insurance agency to compete with private companies. "That is not something we're interested in doing."

Ryan acknowledged that Senate Republicans in more than a dozen states that expanded their Medicaid programs with federal help under Obamacare are worried about working-class families losing their coverage if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

"We're going to have to find solutions that accommodate (those) concerns," he said.

Republicans made the repeal and replacement of Obamacare a major promise of their election campaigns last year. Although GOP leaders can pass legislation without Democratic support in the House, they will need help from Democrats to pass a replacement plan in the Senate.

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