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ICYMI: Rubio Discusses ObamaCare Bailout Bill On The O’Reilly Factor

Nov 20, 2013 | Press Releases

Rubio: “The notion that we have to take taxpayer dollars to bail out insurance companies to make ObamaCare work, that alone is a testament to why this entire law needs to be repealed. The sooner the better.”

FOX News’ “The O’Reilly Factor”
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio
November 19, 2013
http://youtu.be/uM4-HLTXizc

Senator Marco Rubio: “The idea that the federal government should be bailing out insurance companies in order to make ObamaCare work, that’s not something a lot of people are aware of. And I haven’t taken a poll on it, but I guarantee you it would be hugely unpopular. The notion that we have to take taxpayer dollars to bail out insurance companies to make ObamaCare work, that alone is a testament to why this entire law needs to be repealed. The sooner the better.”

Rubio: “It says that any shortfalls that may happen as a result of the law, that they’re going to come in and make up for it. According to the rules, the way they have written it, it could be any amount. They could really just go pour hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money into these private plans. But you talk about taking it directly to the people, I already see it. The body language on Capitol Hill among many Democrats is very different than it was a month and a half ago, very different than it was a couple of weeks ago.”

FOX’s Bill O’Reilly: “They’re scared. No doubt  they’re scared, particularly the ones that have to run for office next year. This insurance thing is interesting because I didn’t know this. When did you find out about it? Did you know it before the vote on ObamaCare? When did you find out?”

Rubio: “I wasn’t here when they voted on ObamaCare, but I can tell you we have been studying it over the last few months because we’ve heard a lot of outside groups mentioning it. Looking at exactly what it meant, we wanted to be responsible. It is exactly what I’ve just said and after last Friday, the likelihood that they are going to have to come in and bail out companies has increased exponentially. Because a lot of those companies were counting on people who lost their insurance to be part of their exchanges. So they’re either going have to charge higher premiums, which goes against the very thing that the law was sold on, or they are going to have to be bailed out by the taxpayers. Neither one of those two things are good.”

Rubio: “Here’s what makes it worse: this bailout would be every year because these plans don’t need one year. They’re going to need an ongoing bailout…every year for those three years. It’s going to be rolling. This thing is not going to go away. [Most] bailouts happen one time. They weren’t good, but this one is over a period of years. So again, this law cannot be saved. It will have to be repealed. And the question is how long will it take for Democrats to realize that and cooperate in that endeavor. So far, I think at the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, they’re still being very stubborn about it. But my prediction is: check back in 8 weeks.”