A leading Democratic critic of the Republicans’ ObamaCare repeal effort wants GOP lawmakers to walk their talk by jumping into the high-risk pools promoted under their legislation.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) hammered the Republicans’ healthcare bill Monday, saying it threatened to drop coverage for people with pre-existing conditions — a charge the Republicans deny, citing the high-risk pools designed to be a safety net for sicker patients.

Appearing at a town hall event in a neighboring GOP district, Maloney vowed to introduce a bill this month forcing supporters of the Republican legislation to get their health coverage from such a pool.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I’ve got an idea. When we go back to Washington, I’m going to introduce an amendment that every member of Congress who votes for this thing should go in a high-risk pool,” he said to roaring applause.

“How do you think they’ll like it? I mean, if it’s such a good idea …”

Maloney’s proposal is reminiscent of the GOP’s demand in 2010 that ObamaCare require congressional lawmakers to give up their federal health benefits and obtain coverage from the insurance exchanges created under the law. In a demonstration of faith in the bill, the Democrats complied. Maloney said he doubts Republicans are as certain about the effectiveness of the high-risk pools.

“They don’t work,” he said.

“High-risk pools are when you corral the very sickest people into one group … and it reminds me of when we used to take people with mental health issues and say we’re going to put them in that beautiful building up on the hill, we’re going to call it a farm and its going to look great from a distance, but inside it’s going to be a house of horrors, because we’re not going to pay for it,” Maloney added.

“That’s your high-risk pool.”

Approved by the House last Thursday, the Republicans’ bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), allows states to waive certain insurance requirements adopted under ObamaCare, including a rule barring insurance companies from charging higher premiums and other out-or-pocket costs to individuals based on their health.

To help patients suddenly priced out of coverage, the GOP bill also includes $138 billion to subsidize coverage for those sicker patients, largely through the creation of state-based high-risk pools.

Republican supporters of that model say it marks a vast improvement over ObamaCare, promoting state flexibility and lowering patient costs.

“We have a better system,” Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanAt indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates Peterson faces fight of his career in deep-red Minnesota district MORE (R-Wis.) told Fox News on Tuesday.

“It is aimed at getting premiums down, letting people have a plan that they want, that’s more affordable, and yes, our plan has layers of protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”

Not all Republicans agree. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who has sponsored a healthcare overhaul of his own, warned Tuesday against isolating sicker patients in separate insurance pools.

“The way to take care of pre-existing conditions is to take the few that are sick and put them in a very large plan where there are many others who are healthier,” Cassidy said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.

Citing the Congressional Budget Office estimate that the initial GOP bill would reduce the insured population by 24 million people, Cassidy said the House bill fails to live up to the promises President Trump made about ensuring coverage and lowering costs.

“If you look at the CBO score, and you can dispute it, but even if it's not as dramatic as it appears to be, [it] still would not fulfill those criteria,” he said.

The Democrats have pounced on the GOP supporters of the AHCA, hoping the vote becomes the same liability for Republicans in the 2018 elections that ObamaCare was for the Democrats in 2010.

Few have been more aggressive than Maloney, who stormed Monday evening into the neighboring district of GOP Rep. John Faso (N.Y.) to highlight Faso’s support for the bill. He did not mince words.

“We are literally … taking from the sick and vulnerable and giving it to the richest and most powerful. It is the largest wealth transfer that’s ever been passed in Congress in modern times,” Maloney said.

“I’ve only been in Congress four years, but it’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”