Rep. Ted Budd Comes Out Against Obamacare Lite…

Excerpt From: News & Record. Written By: Taft Wireback.

Freshman congressman Ted Budd publicly broke with President Donald Trump on the president’s proposed American Health Care Act on Tuesday, saying it was a bad deal for North Carolina families.

Rep. Budd (R-13th District) said that “as currently written,” he could not support the plan that Trump has been championing in sync with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as the antidote to the Obamacare program that Republicans have vowed to “repeal and replace.”

“This bill leaves the structure of Obamacare in place and does not provide the relief that North Carolina families need from high premiums,” Budd said in announcing his position Tuesday morning.

Budd’s departure is a blow to the effort by Trump and Ryan to repeal and replace Obamacare this week with a plan that leaves some of the original measure in place but makes major changes in the original’s financial underpinnings.

Budd said the Republican establishment’s proposal needs more radical changes before he could climb aboard.

“I am completely committed to repealing Obamacare and do not think that Congress should take a recess until we have done so,” said Budd, a resident of Davie County who represents the sprawling district that includes High Point and much of Greensboro.

Budd made his comment in response to an inquiry from the News & Record about a study of the proposed AHCA, also known as Trumpcare, by a team from the personal finance website, WalletHub, which suggested the current version of Trumpcare would hit Greensboro and the rest of the Triad particularly hard.

The study listed Greensboro 11th nationally among communities adversely impacted by the Republican replacement proposal. In addition, the analysis of losses in subsidies from Obamacare to Trumpcare showed Winston-Salem 13th hardest hit in the nation and High Point 17th.