House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Thursday that lawmakers plan to advance legislation both to repeal and to replace Obamacare at the same time, a day after President-elect Donald Trump said repealing and replacing the law would be done “essentially simultaneously.”
“What … the president-elect said yesterday is what we’ve been saying all along is we’re advancing these things at the same time,” Mr. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, told radio host Mike Gallagher.
“We’re advancing the legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare at the same time, and it will take time to put all of that into place, all those moving parts in place,” he said.
Mr. Ryan said there will be a transition period so people don’t wake up one morning and lose their health insurance.
The speaker had told reporters earlier in the week that the goal was to bring along a replacement plan concurrently with a repeal bill.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said the process would start once Rep. Tom Price gets confirmed as the next secretary of health and human services.
“It will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week, but probably, the same day, could be the same hour,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference.
Early Thursday, the Senate approved a budget resolution that instructed committees to put together Obamacare repeal legislation by Jan. 27. Mr. Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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