SCOOP: Grover Norquist backs Rick Scott and August Pfluger’s health care legislation

Rep. August Pfluger (R., Texas) and Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) co-released a healthcare plan recently that they hope will reform how Americans interact with the health care system, which the duo discussed in the first appearance of a senator on the Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) Right to the Point podcast.

During the episode, obtained by the Washington Reporter, Pfluger asked the questions; normally, his fellow RSC members take turns around the horn.

The duo discussed what Pfluger called their “incredible” and bicameral health care bill, which they call the MACA bill — the More Affordable Care Act. Some of its central tenets, Pfluger explained, include reducing Americans’ dependency on the government; he went so far as to call his bill a “perfect fit for our country right now.”

The conservative duo’s prescription for what America’s health care system needs won quick plaudits from the broader conservative movement, including from figures like Grover Norquist, the President of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).

“Democrats now want to bail out Obamacare by extending the enhanced premium tax subsidies they swore were temporary policy to address the COVID-19 pandemic,” Norquist explained. “Thankfully, Senator Rick Scott and Representative August Pfluger introduced the More Affordable Care Act, a bill that would establish Trump Health Freedom Accounts, offer Americans more plan options, allow Americans to shop across state lines for coverage, increase transparency in the ACA Marketplace, and enhance the Small Business Tax Credit to encourage employer-sponsored coverage. Sen. Scott and Rep. Pfluger’s bill contains conservative reforms that actually reduce the costs of healthcare.”

Norquist also had a warning for Republicans, who are debating how to tackle health care as 2025 turns to 2026: “no Republican should support extending the enhanced premium tax subsidies,” he said.

Scott, who built a massive hospital company as a young man, is familiar with health care policy and job creation; in his first term as the Sunshine State’s governor, he told Pfluger, he helped add almost 2 million jobs to the state.

In Scott’s vision, Americans have more “skin in the game” when it comes to their healthcare costs than they do under the status quo. “Instead of giving the money to an insurance company, [we] give it to the person,” he explained. He also wants to allow health care to be sold “across state lines and allow people to consolidate into association plans.”

“All these things are going to drive down the cost of health care, because it’s going to instead insurance companies and the government driving the decision,” he said. Scott’s faith in the plan comes from successes he oversaw as governor, where Florida’s welfare rolls plummeted, but people got off of welfare “because they could support themselves.”

Scott also complimented Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s work as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

“I like what Bobby Kennedy is doing from the standpoint of how he’s trying to make us healthier; the first thing is we need to be healthier,” he said. “Go exercise, don’t smoke, don’t drink in excess, things like that.”

The RSC’s latest episode can be heard here.