Senate majority leader acknowledges repeal of Affordable Care Act will take time and says 20 million covered by law will not lose healthcare

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Congress will begin work immediately next year on repealing Barack Obama’s healthcare law but it will also delay the changes as Republicans try to come up with an alternative, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Saturday.

The Kentucky Republican insisted that 20 million Americans who have healthcare through the six-year-old Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare, will not lose coverage, though the likely upheaval in the insurance industry suggests many could.

Asked about the Senate’s timetable to scrap the law, McConnell said: “We’re going to move to it after we go back in the first week in January.”

What an Obamacare replacement could look like under Tom Price Read more

But in a speech in his hometown of Louisville, the senator asked for patience from the law’s critics.

“You can’t just snap your fingers and go from where we are today to where we’re headed,” McConnell told a crowd at the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s annual meeting. “This has to be done carefully. It has to be done in a phased-in way over a period of time.”

Republicans have been unable to agree on an alternative since the law’s enactment in 2010, but now must produce a replacement. President-elect Donald Trump says he would like to keep major elements of the law – allowing children to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26 and ensuring companies don’t deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.

It is unclear how a new version of the law could force insurance companies to provide the latter coverage.

With open enrollment underway, no changes are expected in 2017 for the more than 10 million people currently covered through the HealthCare.gov website and state markets that offer subsidized private insurance.

An additional estimated nine million low-income people covered by Medicaid in states that expanded the program are also protected for now.

McConnell said Republicans had an obligation to repeal and replace a law he called a “monstrosity”. He blamed the law for rising co-payments, deductibles and premiums and said it caused “chaos” in the private health insurance market.

“We have an obligation to the American people to straighten this out,” he said. But he said replacing the law would be challenging “given the fact that it’s been kicking in for six years”.

McConnell also played down prospects for any new trade deals. Specifically, he said the Trans-Pacific Partnership would not pass Congress because “politically it’s unsustainable”.

Trump’s tough talk on trade has included a threat to pull the US out of the TPP.

“As a practical matter, we will not be doing any trade agreements anytime soon,” said McConnell, a trade proponent.

Dismantling the ACA would be catastrophic for people like my partner | Annamarya Scaccia Read more

McConnell also said he hoped Trump would take quick action once in office to roll back Obama administration regulations that he said slowed economic growth.

“We’ve been working with the transition team on all the things he can begin on his own to produce relief on,” McConnell said. “Some will take longer than others. But we intend to begin to dismantle this regulatory nightmare that’s … kept us from reaching our potential.”

McConnell also attributed increased Republican dominance in rural America to the unpopularity of Obama and his policies, calling last month’s election a comeback for rural areas.

“All across rural America, there’s a sea of red because our friends on the other side have become an urban-oriented party,” he said.