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Republican Sen. Rand Paul said the House GOP health care bill is unlikely to pass in Congress because there are "enough conservatives that dont want 'Obamacare lite.'

The Kentucky senator told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Sunday that the Republican-led Congress should repeal Obamacare in its entirety.

He says the current bill, which is set for a vote Thursday in the House, doesn't go far enough. They're going to repeal part of it and leave in place all of the stuff that causes your insurance rates to go through the roof, Paul said.

Paul added that the House GOP plan doesnt fix the fundamental problem of Obamacare, which he said are the mandates on insurance companies.

"My fear is that a year from now people are going to come back and were going to have all the same arguments that insurance premiums are still going through the roof and we still have a mess, he said.

Paul said he has his own health care plan that "actually forces prices down, forces the insurance companies to come to the table," instead of subsidizing health care.

In a separate interview Sunday on This Week, Stephanopoulos asked Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price about Pauls proposal for a clean repeal of Obamacare and a wide open debate about how to replace it.

Price said that would place vulnerable people at risk.

Thats not something that the presidents willing to do, said Price. What [the president] has said is that repeal and replace need to occur essentially at the same time ... Thats what were moving forward with in this first phase.

Paul, in his interview, countered this view. They call it repeal and replace, but when it doesn't fix the problems and you say you've fixed the problems, they're going to own it. And I promise you, in a year, the insurance markets will still be unraveling ... They have in the House plan bailouts for insurance companies. Conservatives are not for bailing out the insurance companies. We're for empowering the consumer to drive prices down so you can get better-cost insurance, the Kentucky Republican said.

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Rand Paul says GOP health care bill unlikely to pass in ...

Louisville Business First

Rand Paul calls for greater competition to drive down health care prices Louisville Business First U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said he hopes the current Republican health care reform bill fails its vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. Paul, R-Ky. made the remarks this morning during a gathering of about 100 people at an event hosted by the St. Rand Paul On GOP Health Care Bill: 'I Don't Think They Have The Votes'TPM At Town Hall, Rand Paul Opposes GOP Health PlanRoll Call Paul predicts GOP healthcare plan will failThe Hill Breitbart News -Normangee Star -Artesia Daily Press -Congressional Budget Office all 1,998 news articles »

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Rand Paul calls for greater competition to drive down health care prices - Louisville Business First

The Senator called the Republican-backed repeal of the Affordable Care Act "Obamacare Lite." Marty Pearl/Special to C-J

Senator Rand Paul spoke to a group gathered in the St. Matthews Community Center on Monday about the process of overhauling the Affordable Care Act. 3/20/17(Photo: Marty Pearl/Special to The C-J)Buy Photo

Senator Rand Paul vowed to vote "No" on a Republican-backed plan to repeal-and-replace the Affordable Care Act, adding that he doesn't currently think the GOP has enough votes to pass the legislation that he calls "Obamacare Lite."

Speaking to an invite-only crowd at the St. Matthews Chamber of Commerce's "Legislative Coffee" event, the Kentucky Republican said he feels the plan doesn't do enough to fix flaws in the current version of the federal health care law, which is also known as Obamacare.

"We've been talking about 'Let's Make America Great Again.' Let's determine how we got great in the first place. And why we are so wealthy as a country is freedom freedom of the marketplace, free to trade with your neighbor, and the government doesn't determine the price. That's what we need to do with health care," Paul said to the crowd of more than 100 local business owners and politicians.

During a news conference followingtheevent, Paul specifically detailed his concerns with the legislation championed by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, saying he feels it would increase insurance costs andcause continued losses for insurance companies. He added that he feels it doesn't do anything to get new people insured.

"I don't think they have the votes to pass it right now. If the conservatives stay solid, the bill will be at least temporarily defeated and then the real negotiations begin," Kentucky's junior senator said. "Conservatives will only have a seat at the table if they can stop the initial Ryan plan from going through."

Senator Rand Paul clarifies statements made during a stop at the St. Matthews Community Center on Monday. 3/20/17(Photo: Marty Pearl/Special to The C-J)

Paul said he wants health care to place more of an emphasis on competition and choice, and that his biggest concern is continued reliance on an individual insurance market. He said he envisions a network of associations such as the St. Matthews Chamber of Commerce which could provide health insurance, as well as the expanded use of health savings accounts.

Paul headed to Washington D.C. following the event, just hours before President Donald Trump plannedto speak at a campaign rally at Freedom Hall. Trump and Paul have disagreed in recent weeks over the Trump-backed repeal-and-replace effort.

Paul said that he was headingback to Washington D.C. because "I've got to work." He said that he welcomes the president to Kentucky a state where he got 62.5 percent of the vote during the 2016 Presidential Election.

"I've got to get to Washington so I can work on the coalition that is trying to defeat the bill," the senator said. "We're not exactly on the same page on this. I do think ultimately that we are on the same page in that we want repeal of Obamacare. I think that there's not unity onreplacement,though."

Reporter Justin Sayers can be reached atjsayers@gannett.com or 502-582-4252. Follow him on Twitter at @_JustinSayers.

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Sen. Rand Paul says he's a 'no' on GOP plan to replace Obamacare ... - The Courier-Journal

During a House hearing on Monday, FBI Director James Comey disputed President Trump's claim that his predecessor "wiretapped" him during the presidential campaign.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) joined Neil Cavuto this afternoon and argued that Trump's allegation is true, since there was surveillance on former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, which was subsequently leaked to the press.

"Everybody admits that somebody spied on Mike Flynn, and he was part of the Trump campaign," Paul said. "It sounds like what the president said has already been proven to be true."

He said that the media is confused, because they think that wiretapping means placing an "old-fashioned bug" on someone's telephone.

"If you haven't looked recently, most of our telephones don't have wires," Paul said. "'Wiretapping' is a broad term for surveillance."

Cavuto said that surveilling Flynn is one thing, but he pressed Paul if Trump himself was tapped.

"I think 'wiretapping' to Donald Trump probably meant spying. And I think 'Donald Trump' or the 'campaign' also probably meant Mike Flynn," Paul said. "So I think really we're arguing circles around something that most people are admitting."

"Somebody was spying on the Trump campaign and ... Mike Flynn lost his job because of an illegal felony in which somebody released the results of spying on the Trump campaign."

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Paul on Wiretapping Dispute: 'Somebody Was Spying on Trump Campaign' - Fox News Insider

During an appearance on ABCs This Week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) expressed deep concern about government surveillance and the intelligence community leaking information to the press.

With discussion among conservatives shifting more and more towards the deep state in recent weeks, Paul told host George Stephanopoulos that itsknown that the Obama administration spied on former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. He was referring to transcripts of pre-inauguration phone calls between Flynn and the Russian ambassadorbeing discussed with the press, as the envoy was being surveilled by the U.S. Those calls led to Flynns resignation.

It is very, very important that whoever released that go to jail, Paul said. Because you cannot have members of the intelligence community listening to the most private and highly classified information and then releasing that to The New York Times.

The Kentucky lawmaker also noted there areonly be a handful of people who could have done this. Therefore, he wants them all to come in and take lie detector tests to get the the bottom of this all.

Paul appears to be parroting much of what weve heard from the Trump administration and other top Republicans, like House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes,in terms of leaks to the media being the real issue at play. The presidenthas taken to Twitter and utilized press conferences to rail against leaks.

Watch the clip above, via ABC News.

[image via screengrab]

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Rand Paul: It is 'Very Important' That Whoever Released Flynn ... - Mediaite