Gingrich: GOP really doesn't want to repeal Obamacare

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich doesn't think Obamacare should be repealed, and congressional Republicans who say they want to repeal it really don't want to either, he told a Washington, D.C. health conference Wednesday.

Instead, he thinks more minor parts of the law that aren't working will be addressed because the core parts of the law have broader support than is often acknowledged.

House and Senate GOP leaders will soon start getting things done on a bi-partisan basis, Gingrich predicted, and he said they have been hampered by a far less cordial dynamic with the White House than when he led the House.

"Congress will get a lot done on a bi-partisan basis but that's a very different question than how you work with the president'," said Gingrich, who served in the House for 20 years until he resigned under an ethics cloud in 1999. "You cannot compare my relationship with Bill Clinton with Boehner's relationship with Obama."

During his bid for the Republican nomination for President in 2012. Gingrich said he had helped save Medicare from bankruptcy with the budget measure known as the "sustainable growth rate" formula. This reduced payments to physicians to balance the budget. Gingrich's boast was premature because Congress has passed legislation for 17 years known as the "doc fix" that overrides the SGR cuts.

"You can't cut reimbursements if you don't find a way to cut costs," he said.

Congress, under pressure from physician groups, appears poised to pass the first permanent "doc fix" as part of a broader Medicare overhaul. Thursday, the House passed the legislation overwhelmingly and it now must be voted on by the Senate. The bill moves Medicare more towards paying for quality over quantity when it comes to medical treatment and continues funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Gingrich, who runs a consulting firm with 10 employees and writes books, has favored alternatives to Medicaid financing over the years, especially block grants to states to control costs. He has represented health care clients but insists he's never acted as a lobbyist.

He told the 2015 World Health Care Congress that existing problems with Medicaid, namely its high cost and challenges some patients have finding doctors, could be better addressed by states. His preference would be to "voucherize it," giving money to the poor to buy their own healthcare, which he says would be cheaper over time.

"Having insurance with no doctor may not be any better than having a doctor with no insurance," he said. "If you know you don't have a solution, it's better having 50 states working on it."