Eric Bolling: RyanCare is still ObamaCare. Here are five ways to start over

CBO releases report on GOP health care bill

How much is the Republican plan to replace ObamaCare going to cost?

As a staunch conservative and loyal supporter of President Trump from the very beginning, I am outraged by the events of the last 2 weeks.

Speaker Paul Ryan and the establishment GOP have pulled a fast one on President Trump. Ryan and the GOP leadership promised a replacement to ObamaCare that conservatives would be proud to back. Every single member of the GOP ran successfully on repealing ObamaCare. They even all voted for full repeal in 2015.

Unfortunately, what Paul Ryan unveiled last week is a version of health care that is at best ObamaCare Lite and at worst a lame replacement bill to the average American.

I have been the most vocal opponent of the GOP replacement bill from the minute they unveiled it. For good reason. I have family members who have been impacted by its disastrous consequences. My niece is a single mother of five, currently living outside Chicago. She is struggling to keep her family covered with ObamaCare. The elevated premiums and the massive deductibles are nothing short of three-card monte.

My niece is a single mother of five, currently living outside Chicago. She is struggling to keep her family covered with ObamaCare. The elevated premiums and the massive deductibles are nothing short of three-card monte.

And the sad truth is that “RyanCare” is no better. I suspected as much when I first read the bill and now the CBO has confirmed my worst fears. Make no mistake, RyanCare is ObamaCare just with a different name.

Coverage is the same, costs to the buyer are not lower and there will be a bigger burden to the American taxpayer than ObamaCare. The Cadillac tax is not repealed and a new entitlement program is enshrined in GOP clothing.

It’s time for President Trump to scrap the GOP health care bill. Send Paul Ryan and Secretary Price back to the drawing board and come up with a free market solution.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Drop the state line restriction. Allow insurers to compete nationally.

2. Tort reform: Medical malpractice insurance is crushing doctors. Reform settlements and judgments now.

3. Allow group providers to negotiate drug prices.

4. Require doctors, hospitals and insurers to post costs of procedures online. Allow the consumer to shop around.

5. Allow associations to provide medical insurance. Imagine if the NRA or the Sierra Club or AAA were allowed to provide health insurance which is decoupled from ones work. Massive groups such as these would have quite a lot of leverage to negotiate prices with medical providers.

There are ways to make health care more affordable. That should be the sole purpose of reform along with fully repealing ObamaCare.

The House GOP and Paul Ryan should get on board. Give your president a plan that reduces the cost of BOTH care and insurance to Americans. Give the free market a chance and we will all be better off.