After the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) passed Congress and was signed into law in 2010, Republicans have voted dozens of times to repeal it. But have they actually offered an alternative piece of legislation to replace it?
The Short Answer
No. No, the Republicans have not offered a legislative alternative to Obamacare. Since taking control of the House of Representatives in Spring of 2011, Speaker John Boehner and the House Republican leadership has not presented a legislative alternative to Obamacare with a full vote of the House. House Republicans have allowed hundreds of bills on the floor, including bills defunding Obamacare, but they have not voted on an alternative.
When they were in the minority in the U.S. Senate from 2010 to fall 2014, Republicans did not offer an Obamacare alternative. Since Spring 2015, when Republicans became the majority in the U.S. Senate, Republicans have not offered an Obamacare alternative. Democrats have not had to filibuster against an Obamacare alternative, because one hasn’t been offered — even though Sen. McConnell and his party have the majority and set the legislative agenda. They’ve voted to defund Obamacare, but have not proposed an alternative.
How Many Times Have Republicans Voted To Defund Obamacare
Republicans have voted to defund Obamacare about 54 times. 4 times they presented legislation simply to defund the program, while about 50 more times they have attached legislative measures that would effectively defund the program, sometimes to bills having absolutely nothing to do with health care.
But Didn’t Some Republicans Offer Obamacare Alternatives?
Some individual Republican Senators and Representatives have offered bills purporting to be Obamacare alternatives (for instance, the American Health Care Reform Act, the Empowering Patients First Act, and the Health Care Choices Act). But here’s the trick: none of these bills has made the floor of the House or the Senate, despite Republican control over both bodies at this point in time.
Republicans have the votes and the legislative power to have their colleagues’ bills on the full floor. They probably have the votes to pass it in the House, while in the Senate it would be sure to attract a Democratic filibuster. But it hasn’t gotten that far because House and Senate Republican leadership hasn’t had the unity or courage to put those bills on the floor.
Of course, if they had the guts and the bills overcame a filibuster, President Obama would veto it anyway.
What About Republican Presidential Candidates?
In 2012, Mitt Romney promised to repeal Obamacare, but offered no serious alternative of his own besides the status quo pre-Obamacare. The same is true thus far for Republicans running for president in 2016. After losing the two Supreme Court challenges to the law, Republican presidential candidates have promised to repeal the law. But have offered no serious alternative to replace it.
But If They Had The White House, Republicans Would Do Something About Health Care, Right?
We can look to recent history. From January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2007 – 1,461 days – Republicans had control of the Presidency, House, and Senate. In that time, Republicans failed to reform the American health care system. They did nothing when they had the chance, then complained and howled when Democrats actually did something about it.
There is no Republican alternative or replacement to Obamacare
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.