House Majority Leader-designate Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Monday that Republicans will not be seeking to completely scrap the healthcare reform law. Cantor said there are certain elements of current law that will be included in the GOP plan, which he said will move simultaneously with a repeal measure through the House.
Provisions that Republicans will seek to retain include the barring of insurance companies from refusing coverage to patients with a pre-existing condition and allowing young people to stay on their parents' insurance plans until age 26.
Speaking to more than 100 students at a town hall event at American University in Washington. D.C., Cantor responded to a question from a young woman who suffered from a chronic health condition by telling her, "We want to keep the pre-existing condition clause."
Cantor also told the woman that under the GOP plan, she should be able stay either "on a parent's health insurance" or be offered "another, equally affordable solution.
"We've taken the positions that preserve what's good about our system without bankrupting the country," Cantor said.
The Virginia lawmaker, who appeared at the event with Majority Whip-designate Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and soon-to-be Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), emphasized the GOP "repeal and replace" strategy on healthcare. Cantor said early next year, the House Republican majority will be fighting for a "a repeal of Obamacare, while simultaneously pushing an alternate plan."
The House is expected to pass such a measure, though it is not expected to move much in the Democratic-led Senate.
