Burr appears to backtrack on vow to repeal healthcare reform

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) sounded as if he might be equivocating on the central plank of his campaign platform during a radio interview Wednesday.

Last month, Burr told a group of students at Wake Forest University that the foundation of re-election effort would be the Republican Party’s effort to repeal the healthcare reform bill passed by the US House of Representatives on March 21.

“I think this is a devastating direction for the American healthcare system,” Burr said during the 1st annual Healthcare Conference and Case Competition on March 19.

However, during the March 31 radio interview with Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch, Burr toned down his rhetoric.

“It may not be total repeal at the end of the day,” Burr said. “It may be a series of fixes over the course of this bill getting enacted that enable us to possibly change and bend that cost curve down.”

Last May, Burr and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced the Patients’ Choice Act in the Senate. The bill purported to “give every American the opportunity to choose the health care plan that best meets their individual needs.” However, Burr acknowledged the bill’s provisions left millions of Americans uninsured.

NC Policy Watch is an independent project of the NC Justice Center.