Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday Republicans will not attempt an outright repeal and replacement of the ACA in 2018 instead, they will attack healthcare reform incrementally, according to The Hill.
Mr. Ryan blamed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for the Republican failure to repeal and replace the ACA in 2017. Mr. McCain voted against a "skinny" repeal of the legislation last July, which was defeated 51 votes to 49.
"What we tried to do was do it all in the House bill with repeal and replace. Like I said, we passed it. And that bill — one guy in the Senate did this instead of that and that went down. That would have been the biggest entitlement reform bill ever passed by Congress. So what are we doing?" Mr. Ryan said, according to The Hill.
Instead of an all-out repeal, Mr. Ryan advocated for smaller measures, such as the recent repeal of the ACA's individual insurance mandate included in the Republican tax plan.
"We're going back and doing it incrementally. Going back at incremental healthcare reform and other entitlement reforms so we can chip away at this problem," said Mr. Ryan, according to The Hill. "I think the best chance we have is going after incremental entitlement reform since the fact the Senate couldn't pass it."