U.S. Rep. Jason Smith backs Trump's health-care changes

President Donald Trump’s changes to the nation’s health-care law have the strong support of U.S. Rep. Jason Smith.

The Republican congressman, who represents the Southeast and South Central Missouri region, said he is “excited” by the president’s executive order that will allow consumers to buy health insurance through association plans across state lines.

Smith echoed the views of other proponents who argue the move will lower health-insurance premiums.

The Salem, Missouri, lawmaker said Trump’s administrative move will “help reduce the economic burden” on the region’s residents.

“The House has already passed a more expanded version of selling health insurance across state lines and it is sitting over in the Senate,” Smith said.

The congressman also praised Trump’s directive to the Department of Health and Human Services to halt subsidy payments to insurers.

“It was just a massive insurance bailout,” Smith said Friday in a telephone interview.

The White House said the government cannot legally continue to pay the cost-sharing subsidies because they were not authorized by Congress, The Associated Press reported.

Smith agreed with the White House.

“The president said if Congress wants insurance bailouts, they have to appropriate the funds,” the 8th District congressman said.

“It is great to have a president who understands there are three branches of government, not just one,” Smith added.

Critics including top Democrats in Congress have said halting the payments to insurance companies would force consumers to pay higher premiums.

Smith said the GOP-led House has passed several different health-care bills.

“We passed tort reform,” he said. “We passed numerous regulatory relief items.”

The congressman blamed the Senate for failing to take action. He said the Senate is “the chamber that likes to sit on their hands.”

The House has passed more than 300 bills; the Senate has approved 64, according to Smith.

Most of the legislation passed by the House has yet to be taken up in the Senate, he said.

“Every item that the president asked for the House to deliver on, we passed,” Smith said.

The House passed a number of appropriations bills. “The Senate has not taken up even one appropriation bill,” he said.

Smith serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has been crafting legislation to provide tax reform and relief.

Smith said Congress must pass tax-cut legislation this year and suggested the Senate not stand in the way.

“There is a tidal wave of support for true change in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

“The president said he wants to drain the swamp and there are some people (senators) on the other side of the building that need to be drained,” Smith said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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