GOP Sen. Roy Blunt Supports Obamacare Provision That Keeps Kids Under 26 on Parents' Plan
Young adults under the age of 26, who are currently on their parent's health insurance plan, can expect cooperation from at least one Republican senator if the Supreme Court overturns the entire Affordable Care Act.
"I believe that's one of the things that the Congress would surely reinstate," said Sen. Roy Blunt, of Missouri, in an interview with Missouri radio station KTRS, which was posted to the senator's YouTube page last Thursday and highlighted today by the liberal website Talking Points Memo.
Under the current law, young adults can stay on their parents' health insurance plans until they turn 26. The provision was one of the first benefits made available under President Obama's healthcare law and is credited for insuring 2.5 million young adults, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Blunt is currently the only Republican senator who's come out publicly for parts of the healthcare law, but he insists in the interview that he's not the only Republican senator in favor of reviving the popular section of the law if SCOTUS kills the entire thing.
Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., made some noise among conservatives when he expressed his support for preserving parts of the health care law.
"If people want to keep their kid on their insurance at 26, fine. We've got to make sure no American gets turned back for pre-existing conditions, that's fine," said West in an interview with the liberal website Think Progress.
Conservative activist groups, like the Club for Growth, are not happy.
"The Club for Growth supports the complete repeal of Obamacare," said Barney Keller, communication director for the club.
Blunt, in his radio interview, pointed to a previous bill he introduced while serving in the House of Representatives.
"I thought it was a way to get a significant number of the uninsured into an insurance group without much cost," said Blunt.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans say that they support this provision in the health care law, according to a NYT CBS News poll.
Republicans as a whole were for the individual mandate, which will require every American to purchase health insurance, but have since changed their position. The individual mandate remains largely unpopular.
Republican Sen. Scott Brown, of Massachusetts, recently came under scrutiny for putting his 23-year-old daughter on his own insurance plan.