Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky unveiled his Affordable Care Act replacement plan this weekend as President-elect Donald Trump told The Washington Post that an Obamacare replacement bill would have the goal of "insurance for everybody."
Though Trump did not reveal specifics of his own healthcare plans, he did vow to force pharmaceutical companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices for Medicare and Medicaid prescription drugs.
This past week, both the House and Senate approved a budget resolution that guts Obamacare through reconciliation, a tool that allows Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act by a simple majority vote.
[Also: House advances ACA repeal in budget resolution]
Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, voted against the budget resolution, saying it adds $10 trillion and goes against Republican goals for a balanced budget.
Paul this weekend introduced an amendment laying out how Congress could balance the budget by 2024 and repeal Obamacare.
"As a physician, I cannot wait to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a healthcare system that relies on freedom to provide quality, comprehensive, and affordable care," Paul said. "There is no reason we cannot repeal Obamacare and pass a balanced budget at the same time," he said on his website.
Paul told CNN he wants to legalize the sale of inexpensive insurance by getting rid of Obamacare mandates on what plans consumers could buy.
He supports health savings accounts and tax credits as a means of affording insurance.
[Also: Employers, workers migrating to HSAs]
Most importantly as a means of insurance bargaining power for individuals and small businesses, Paul's plan promotes the formation of associations for beneficiaries to negotiate coverage that can't be cancelled when an individual gets sick.
Paul said he didn't expect Medicaid expansion would be in a replacement plan. Kentucky expanded Medicaid through a Democratic governor.
[Also: Fate of Medicaid expansion is top of mind for providers in Trump healthcare plan, experts say]
Paul has finished drafting the Obamacare replacement bill, he said on Twitter.
Trump has said repeal and replacement would happen at the same time.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse