Collins admits Republicans don’t have ‘comprehensive’ health care plan if ACA repealed

Sen. Susan Collins said that Republicans in Congress don’t have a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the Obama-era health insurance legislation.

In an Oct. 9 interview on Maine Public’s Maine Calling, Collins was asked by a listener to clarify whether or not there is a GOP plan to replace the ACA. President Donald Trump promised an alternative health care proposal several times during his presidency, but the White House has never released a plan or provided any further details.

“There is not a comprehensive plan that I have seen from the White House,” Collins said. “There are concepts, principles, executive orders having to do with prescription drug pricing, but I have not seen a comprehensive plan.”

Just days after the election, the Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in a case that could repeal the ACA in its entirety. A group of Republican state attorneys general are suing the federal government, alleging that the policy became unconstitutional when the 2017 Republican tax bill did away with the individual mandate, which required every American to enroll in a health insurance program. During the “Maine Calling”, Collins declined to answer a question from Maine Public political correspondent Mal Leary about what alternative health care plan she would support or anticipate from the Trump administration.

Collins cast a deciding vote for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and said she opposed the individual mandate during the segment. Collins also repeatedly said that she does not support overturning the entire ACA and pointed to her 2017 vote against repealing the bill outright.

“I was the first Republican senator to speak out and say that I would not repeal the Affordable Care Act because the Republicans did not have a finished bill that could replace the Affordable Care Act,” Collins said.

Despite Collins’ insistence that she supports the ACA, many of her critics — including her Democratic challenger, Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon — have pointed out that her 2017 vote on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act set the stage for the current court battle.

“The ACA is in jeopardy thanks to Senator Collins’ vote for the GOP tax bill. If the Supreme Court overturns it, millions of Americans will be left without health care in the middle of a global pandemic,” Gideon said in an Oct. 1 tweet.

Gideon’s health care platform builds off of the framework of the ACA and endorses the creation of a government-run health insurance option.

Photo: Sen. Susan Collins speaks on the Senate floor ahead of a vote to repeal the ACA / via CSPAN.