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Texas Lawmakers Talk About Future of Affordable Care Act

President-elect Donald Trump has said repealing Obamacare is at the top of his priority list, and Republicans on Capitol Hill want to get it done quickly. U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Rockwall, expects action early, in less than a few weeks.

"We are addressing this very quickly," he said. "The Senate is actually moving on it already, but listen, complaints about Obamacare is what I heard the most in my first two years in Congress."

U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, discussed the timetable with NBC 5 in an interview from the Capitol.

"President-elect Trump has indicated, and I believe we have consented and agreed, we will have a new plan for a healthcare bill on or about February the 20th of this year," Sessions said. "Which means about a month after he is sworn in as president of the United states, I would anticipate we have a bill through the House of Representatives and hopefully to the Senate, so we can begin working on a new plan that would take place this next October."

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, also thinks they could move quickly.

"I think it's very realistic to do it. I think there will be a transition period, obviously, but there are some elements that we will almost certainly keep. We will continue to cover preexisting conditions. I think we will allow children to stay on their parents' plans until a certain period of time, until their mid-20s. But I think we will do away with all of the mandates on individuals that they have to have insurance, and companies that they have to provide it," Barton said.

"I think you will see us go back to a free market system – give and take between the patient and the doctor – and in terms of the specific types of coverage, let the market operate and devise different plans for different people at their different stages of their lives," Barton said.

Texas Democrats don't want to get rid of a system they say have helped 20 million people get insurance.

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, does not want the law to be repealed.

"I'm from Texas, where the majority of the people that are working cannot afford health insurance. This was an opportunity for many to have health coverage. I don't want to see that disappear," she said.

The Affordable Care Act has benefited constituents of Republican lawmakers as well, says U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth.

"(The Republicans) are going to leave those people, their constituents, out on the cold, and they are not going to have any insurance. And so they should not move forward. They have absolutely no plan at all," Veasey said.

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