On the recordJuly 18, 2017
good to see you and our friend from Utah. I feel compelled to go back in time, if I could. This is a question a lot of people ask me back home and around the country: Where did ObamaCare come from? The part where most people think of ObamaCare is when they think of the exchanges that have been established in all 50 States, where people who don't have healthcare can get coverage as part of a large-group plan. That was an idea that came from RomneyCare. In 2006 in Massachusetts, when Mitt Romney was the Governor and was running for President, they came up with a really smart idea: Governor Romney, you have a much better chance of being elected President if you have done what no other Governor has done; that is, to cover everybody in your State for healthcare. Well, that is an interesting idea. They looked around for ideas, and what did they come up with? They came up with an idea that was actually suggested by the Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation found its way to this body in 1993 in legislation introduced by Republican Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island that called for doing five things: No. 1 was creating exchanges or marketplaces in every State, where people who didn't have coverage could be part of a large group and get coverage. No. 2, folks who bought coverage on the exchange might be eligible for a sliding-scale tax credit. Lower-income people would get a better tax credit, reducing their premiums, than people whose income was higher. No.…





