Rand Paul: I’m ‘Disappointed’ Republicans Have ‘Insufficient Confidence’ in the Free Market

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), said he was disappointed with Republicans who wanted to keep Obamacare regulations and not trust the free market for solutions.

Paul said, “The problem is Republicans can’t seem to agree on what replacement means. To me, replacement is legalizing inexpensive insurance. That means the federal government doesn’t regulate it and allow the sale of inexpensive insurance again, legalizing the ability to join an association across state lines. I thought that is what we as Republicans believed in. But it turns out many Republicans actually believe in this giant insurance bailout super fund. Nearly $200 billion that they’re going to give to the rich Republicans actually believe in this giant insurance bailout super fund.”

“Nearly $200 billion that they’re going to give to the rich insurance executives and rich insurance companies. So I’m not for that. And so if we can do both at the same time, absolutely, I’m still for that. I could even say you could do it in separate bills. And that’s the other thing I’ve been saying. I’m looking for a way to get this done. If you divide it into a cleaner repeal, then you take the pork fest and big government spending and put that into another bill, I think they probably get Democrats. I don’t know a Democrat that won’t vote for a big spending bill. They could work with Democrats if they want bigger government and let conservative vote for a repeal of Obamacare.”

He continued, “I think disappointed is the right way to put it. You know, I think what is really occurred to me is so many of these Republicans in Washington, not out in the land when you go home you find that most Republicans still want full repeal. But what disappoints me about Senate Republicans, they seem to have insufficient confidence in what made America great. What made America great were not insurance regulations, insurance stabilization funds. What made us great is leaving people free to trade with each other, not regulating trade, getting the government out of it. There have to be regulations at the state level. But having this — they’re going to keep in place the Obamacare regulatory structure that causes the death spiral. The death spiral will continue under the Republican plan. They’re going to give billions to insurance companies. It’s really not what we’re for. I don’t know how we got there.”

He added, “The thing is I am disappointed. I will continue to express disappointed. We owe it to voters to do what we said. And we should have confidence that we can present market alternatives.”

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