Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon introduced H.R. 1908, The Federal Repeal of Expensive Exchanges Act, or, the FREE Act. This is the second of a series of bills introduced by Salmon to defund and repeal Obamacare.
“My fight to eliminate Obamacare before it causes more harm to our economy continues with the introduction of the Federal Repeal of Expensive Exchanges Act (FREE Act),” said Salmon in a statement released Monday. “Obamacare’s federal exchange mandates are a direct assault to the state’s traditional authority to regulate health insurance, and my bill would repeal those costly subsidies and lay the ground work for reforming health care the right way – increasing market-based competition to give patients and families less expensive and less restrictive options.
More specifically, the FREE Act repeals the Employer Mandate and the Individual Mandate from Obamacare, as well as several other costly tax credits and cost-sharing programs. Why should the Federal government dictate what a health plan should include, thereby making the plans more expensive and less responsive to the regional needs of individual states?
My bill supports what many Americans still believe—that healthcare should always be controlled by patients and doctors, not by government bureaucrats.
Because more Americans are waking up to the fact that Obamacare will not bend the cost curve down and reduce the deficit, it’s no wonder the latest polling data confirms that Obamacare is more unpopular than it ever has been. Even worse, businesses across America are already cutting hours and laying off hard-working employees in preparation for the full implementation of this disastrous piece of legislation. I urge all my colleagues to join me in fighting to eliminate this law so we can prevent more damage to our economy.”
The FREE Act repeals the following parts of Obamacare:
•The Employer Mandate
•The Individual Mandate
•Refundable tax credits for premium
•Cost sharing subsidies
•Reporting of health insurance premium tax credits and cost sharing reduction payments
•Procedures for determining eligibility for Exchange participation, premium tax credits and reduced cost-sharing, and individual responsibility exemptions
•Advance determination and payment of premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions
•Premium tax credit and cost-sharing reduction payments disregarded for Federal and federally-assisted programs
Salmon serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.