THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW - December 3, 2013

*-- Republicans want market-driven reforms in healthcare --*
WASHINGTON - Republican legislators said Sunday they'd like to see the Affordable Care Act replaced with a different healthcare system that includes market-driven reforms.

In an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said that even though many of his state's citizens have enrolled in the federal health exchanges, in the long run, "a much better option for us here in Wisconsin and across the country [is to] replace it with something better."

Walker and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., suggested -- in vague terms -- market-driven reforms that would include making both individual and employer plans tax exempt, CBS News reported.

"The fundamentals of this, to me, were done in a ... chaotic way much like we're seeing the roll out," Corker said. "Done in a way that there wasn't a vision at the end, just an amalgamation of legislation that didn't have a central focus, so I don't know how you fix it. I don't know how you fix a program that was put together in this manner, with only one side of the aisle, and taking the shortcuts that we're taking to put it in place."

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., defended the Affordable Care Act, saying its problems started and stopped with the website, which the Department of Health and Human Services announced Sunday had undergone hardware and software upgrades.

"This is the equivalent of having a great item that you want to buy in a store but not being able to get through the front door. It sounds like the front door has been opened successfully now and hopefully have Americans get access to that health care they desperately need," Menendez said.

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