Ed Sealover, Denver Business Journal
Business groups, liberal groups and patient-advocacy organizations who raised eyebrows when they teamed up to defeat a universal health care amendment on the November ballot have joined forces again, this time to ask Congress not to repeal the Affordable Care Act without some sort of replacement plan in place.
The move comes as congressional Republicans have said that the repeal and replacement of the seven-year-old law, more commonly known as Obamacare, will be their top priority now that the new session of Congress has commenced.
The 108 groups involved in the Health Policy Coalition have wildly differing views on repealing the law — some have championed it as having substantially helped poorer Americans, while others have complained since 2010 that its mandates are responsible for skyrocketing insurance costs — but all agree that it should not be overturned without plans for an alternative way that won’t throw the private insurance market into chaos.
“But our first, most urgent message has to be that repeal of our existing framework, without a clear picture of what will replace it, is a recipe for disaster for health care in America and for millions of us who rely on our health care infrastructure,” said Adela Flores-Brennan, executive director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.
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