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Josh Hawley on Health Care |
JOSH HAWLEY: On healthcare, Missourians are paying outrageous healthcare costs, up 145% price increases in the state. They want to see that change. Claire McCaskill is responsible.
Q: If you get elected, are you going to vote to repeal and replace ObamaCare?
JOSH HAWLEY: Yes, I would. I think it's absolutely vital that we get rid of the failures of ObamaCare, we bring down costs, we protect people with pre-existing conditions in the law with a mandate, Chuck, that ensures that we do it, but that we multiply options for families. You know, I have had family after family, in this state, come up to me and say, "Look, we can't afford our health insurance. We're having to get a second job, send a spouse back to work." It shouldn't have to be that way.
JOSH HAWLEY: There are a number of ways to do it, to protect folks with pre-existing conditions. Congress should mandate it. My position is insurance companies should be required, by law, to protect folks with pre-existing conditions.
Q: Do you think that's constitutional?
HAWLEY: I do, absolutely. What's not constitutional is the requirement that people buy health insurance they don't want. But it's absolutely constitutional to say that insurers have to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Congress should mandate it. People like my own little boy, who has a pre-existing condition, should be covered under the law, but apart from ObamaCare. We don't have to have ObamaCare to do it. I think we need to clear away the failure of ObamaCare and put patients back in charge of their healthcare.
Josh Hawley (R): Repeal & replace ACA, which "was never constitutional." Part of lawsuit to end required coverage of pre-existing conditions.
Claire McCaskill (D): Supports "improving" ACA. Offered Senate resolution to protect coverage of pre-existing conditions.
But Hawley is one of the 20 state officials who has signed onto a new lawsuit seeking to eliminate the Affordable Care Act's guarantee of coverage, which they argue is unconstitutional. Hawley is also a longtime supporter of Congress repealing the law outright. "It's simple: ObamaCare must go," he told supporters last year.
Hawley would have Missourians believe there is nothing contradictory in his rhetoric and action--he simply wants to get rid of "ObamaCare," not the law's promise of insurance for anybody regardless of pre-existing conditions.
In reality, Hawley and other Republicans have no plan for replacing the law with something that would provide the same kind of access. The GOP, including Hawley, is now talking up a Senate bill experts have said wouldn't solve the problem.
As a private attorney, he worked with more than a dozen lawyers on a case in which Hobby Lobby and other businesses challenged a federal requirement to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives for employees.
His campaign web site notes that, "ObamaCare is hurting Missouri families--limiting their healthcare and driving up their bills. And it's hurting jobs. If we want better healthcare and better jobs in our state, it's simple: ObamaCare must go," it adds.
With the Republican-led Congress and Trump now pushing to repeal ObamaCare, other statewide officials in Missouri have weighed in on the effects of the replacement plan, including Republican Gov. Eric Greitens.
The Christian Coalition Voter Guide inferred whether candidates agree or disagree with the statement, 'Repealing the Nationalized Health Care System that Forces Citizens to Buy Insurance ' Christian Coalition's self-description: "Christian Voter Guide is a clearing-house for traditional, pro-family voter guides. We do not create voter guides, nor do we interview or endorse candidates."