plans, cvs, walgreens, walmart, developed walk-in clinics where you can go and get your kids ear infection diagnosed versus the emergency room at $200. one, health care savings accounts is only good if you have the money to put into it. two, health care is so much more complex now. it used to go that if you had to get your appendix out, god forbid, they went in, took it out, that s it. now they have all of these tests. so you re getting more care and there s more cost. and endoscopic surgery, which reduced the cost, because it reduces the hospital stay. i use that to apply to the market. let s go on to what i was continuing to emphasize about the faulty architecture. this is the trend line in premiums prior to obamacare. in 2013, an average american was paying $232 per month. because of obamacare, this is according to hhs, premiums increased 105% nationwide, up to
board with health care reform bill and repeal and replace still possible. i think getting lisa murkowski on board with repealing and replacing obamacare is going to be important. here s the thing. i don t think it s over. i would not say that repealing and replacing obamacare before the end of september is off the table. after seven years, but i didn t hear this week except for senator ted cruz who d deserves credit or the freedom caucus guys. you worked so closely with them on the house bill and even this bill they were involved too. i didn t hear about health care cooperatives, health care savings accounts. these are fundamental principles i ve been talking about on aaron you ve been discussing is the rnc chairman for 15, 20 years, and they weren t even in the bill. they were in the original bill, but they kept peeling things off the bill, it became skinnier and skinnier. i want to emphasize the fact looking forward positively, i
bill and repeal and replace still possible. i think getting lisa murkowski on board with repealing and replacing obamacare is going to be important. here s the thing. i don t think it s over. i would not say that repealing and replacing obamacare before the end of september is off the table. after seven years, but i didn t hear this week except for senator ted cruz who d deserves credit or the freedom caucus guys. you worked so closely with them on the house bill and even this bill they were involved too. i didn t hear about health care cooperatives, health care savings accounts. these are fundamental principles i ve been talking about on aaron you ve been discussing is the rnc chairman for 15, 20 years, and they weren t even in the bill. they were in the original bill, but they kept peeling things off the bill, it became skinnier and skinnier. i want to emphasize the fact looking forward positively, i
some hesitation. we can fix this bill by doing a tweak here and a trim there. it needs a complete overhaul in order to garner my support. i think there s still a path. i m not polyannish about this. it s very difficult when you can only lose two votes, and there may already be two that are irretrievable. we re in a tight spot. we have to give this every effort. some of the possible changes to the health care legislation include $45 million for opioid funding and expanded use of health care savings accounts. senator ted cruz s amendment that would allow states to offer non-compliant obama care plans that doesn t cover special benefits along side obama care compliant plans. now, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell s office has given no indication of when a bill will be released. some republicans say it will happen this week with a vote as early as next week. when is the vote? next week. specifically?
more money for medicaid. we don t want to move up the date where the expansion ends. so it s a needle here pardon my metaphor, it s a their row path to have to walk. and that s politics. that may be why tom cotton has been criticizing the bill. arkansas was one of the states that took a big buy-in into the medicaid piece of obamacare. governor chris sununu has said the medicaid money has helped him with the opioid crisis in vermont which is real, no question about it. but some decision has to be made whether you re going to go down that road and make it medicaid for everybody or do a reform like this. and i think we have seen what the conservatives want. ted cruz and mark meadow, congressman mark meadows, wrote a piece for our web site this week in which they laid out the things they wanted; expanded health care savings accounts, nonrefundable tax credit, they want a freeze on medicaid expansion right now, and they want a work requirement.