Washington is often "paralyzed" by seeking perfection rather than looking for solutions that are better, and the replace/reform bill presented by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Bill Cassidy, R-La., is better than the Obamacare alternative now in place, former Gov. Mike Huckabee said Thursday.
"To quote Voltaire, 'perfect is the enemy of the good,'" Huckabee, a Fox News contributor, told the "Fox and Friends" program.
"This is a great example of that. If the problem is lack of money for specific states, that could be fixed. But Obamacare can't be fixed."
His comments came after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie complained this week that the Graham-Cassidy measure would be "too injurious" to his state.
"I'm certainly not going to support a bill that takes nearly $4 billion from people in the state," Christie told reporters, according to Politico.
Huckabee, though, insisting that the money issue can be solved, compared Obamacare to "an airplane that is spiraling toward the ground about to explode and we have people that are complaining about the snacks that are being served."
The best thing to do, he said, is pass the bill, as it empowers states and gives them flexibility.
"During the time when I was governor, we had 49 out of 50 governors sign onto a proposal to Congress that said to give us less money," said Huckabee. "Give us less money, give us more flexibility. We can make Medicaid work."
The problem is not that states can't do anything, but it's that the federal government won't let them, he continued.
Further, there is no template that can be put over 50 states, as healthcare looks different in different places, said Huckabee, but "Graham-Cassidy gives them the permission, gives them the opportunity to fix a lot of the reasons that Obamacare won't work."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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