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Following another failure on the Obamacare repeal effort, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., expressed hope Wednesday night that his conference could eventually get something done on healthcare, but would have to change its strategy.

After speaking at the Young Americans for Liberty National Convention, the senator made clear that in order to get anything done, Republicans have to find a lowest common denominator. "I think it makes more sense to start small and work big," Paul told the Washington Examiner. "They started with such an enormous bill, and then by the end they were throwing everything in there but the kitchen sink. I mean, they threw an extra hundred billion in at the very end."

The best way to get something done, Paul said, is for the Senate to craft a skinny bill to send to the House and avoid a conference committee altogether.

Paul has refused to support the Better Care Reconciliation Act primarily because of how much federal money it promises to insurance companies, something the senator called the epitome of crony capitalism in his speech to the YAL audience.

If the bill ends up in a conference committee, Paul said, it will end up looking more like the BCRA. "I think if it goes to conference committee again and they load it up with all the pork, I won't vote for it. If they pass the skinny bill that both conservatives and moderates can vote for, I think then you've got a chance to just send it over directly to the House."

There are still concerns about how insurance markets would respond to an Obamacare repeal, especially a "skinny" repeal, which would focus less on stabilizing the marketplace as the BCRA did and more on simply repealing Obamacare. Paul spoke of his effort to work association health plans, which would allow those in the individual market to group together and create bigger and more-diverse risk pools, into a skinny repeal proposal.

However, Paul also said that without true repeal, there is no hope for stabilized markets.

"The insurance market is a disaster now, and no matter what you do, unless you're willing to repeal all the regulations, it will be a disaster in 2018," Paul said.

"It's not the fault of Republicans. It's the fault of Obamacare."

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Rand Paul says Republicans should seek 'lowest common denominator' on healthcare negotiations - Washington Examiner