Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) used a Wednesday appearance on NewsNation’s “On Balance” to press his party to move beyond criticism of the Affordable Care Act and put forward concrete proposals for lowering health costs, according to remarks flagged by Breitbart News.
“Healthcare, to me, is the biggest thing Republicans need to get serious about tackling,” Lawler said, placing the issue alongside housing and energy as the three largest drivers of household costs.
A critique without a plan isn’t enough
The New York Republican argued that simply condemning Obamacare does not address voters’ concerns. “It’s not enough to just say Obamacare is bad. We know there [are] problems with it. The question is, how do you fix it?” he said.
His answer leaned on market-based competition. Lawler pointed to association health plans — arrangements that let small businesses band together to buy coverage — as well as allowing insurers to sell policies across state lines.
“You need competition. That is a reality,” he said.
The congressman also raised the healthcare workforce as a cost driver, noting that the U.S. trains foreign-born doctors and nurses and then sends them home. “We need to address workforce issues. You have a shortage of doctors and nurses, we’re educating people, foreign-born, and then kicking them out of the country. It’s foolish,” Lawler said.
Pushing back on the ‘nothing’s been done’ charge
Asked about the pace of Republican action on affordability, Lawler disputed the premise that his party has been idle. He cited the tax cut package, saying the average New Yorker received a reduction of more than $4,000, and pointed to border enforcement as another accomplishment affecting costs.
“You want to talk about driving up the cost of housing and healthcare and everything else? Democrats in New York spent over $8 billion providing free housing, clothing, food, education, and healthcare to illegal immigrants. That drives everything up,” he said.
On energy, Lawler said lawmakers are near a permitting reform agreement before this Congress ends. Together with the housing and tax measures he mentioned, he described permitting reform as one of “three major pillars of actually tackling the cost of living.”
A familiar intraparty tension
Lawler’s comments land in a broader Republican debate over how aggressively to engage on healthcare, an issue that has favored Democrats in recent election cycles. His framing — that the party must offer fixes rather than only attacks — reflects a divide between members who want a replacement-style platform and those who prefer to focus on other economic messages.
The specific ideas he named are not new. Association health plans and interstate insurance sales have been Republican staples for years, though their effect on premiums remains contested. Workforce proposals, such as retaining graduates of American medical and nursing schools who were born abroad, touch on immigration policy that has been difficult to move through Congress.
What Lawler did not do was endorse a particular bill or timeline. He presented the ideas as a direction rather than a finished plan, and his remarks came as a clip circulated by Breitbart, which noted the interview aired Wednesday.
For now, the comments add Lawler’s voice to a conversation Republicans appear likely to continue as affordability remains a central voter concern. Whether the party coalesces around a specific healthcare package — and whether it can pass before the current Congress adjourns — is a question his own remarks left open.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2026/10/15/lawler-republicans-need-to-get-serious-about-tackling-healthcare/