WASHINGTON -- With Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on life support, Rep. Tom MacArthur said he had "no regrets" about his efforts to push the legislation forward.
"I'm doing what I can as a member of Congress to solve problems," MacArthur (R-3rd Dist.) said after Senate Republicans acknowledged that their legislation didn't have the votes to pass. "That's why I came here. I didn't come here to be a potted plant. I didn't come here to decorate a chair."
MacArthur said the blame rested with the Senate Republicans who refused to follow the lead of House GOP lawmakers and approve a bill doing away with the existing health care law.
"The Senate still has a chance to fix this," MacArthur said. "That is surely better than letting it collapse because in the meantime millions of people will over time be losing ability to buy insurance. That's not a good outcome."
After House Republicans pulled their bill off the floor due to lack of support, MacArthur, a former insurance executive, proposed allowing states to seek waivers from federal requirements that insurers offer a specific package of benefits and do not charge higher premiums to sicker patients.
That won the support of the most conservative members of the House Republican Conference and enabled the legislation to pass with just two votes to spare.
The Congressional Budget Office said the bill would leave 23 million more Americans without health insurance and cause some with pre-existing conditions to be "unable to purchase comprehensive coverage with premiums close to those under current law and might not be able to purchase coverage at all."
In MacArthur's own district, the number of uninsured would more than double by 2026, a higher percentage than anywhere in the state, according to New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive research group.
MacArthur questioned the accuracy of the CBO's projections.
"They're trying to predict things 10 years out in advance," he said after the CBO report came out. "They're trying to predict what states are going to do. I think that's impossible."
In the aftermath of the House vote, MacArthur resigned as co-chair of the Tuesday Group of more moderate Republican lawmakers; the Cook Political Report, which tracks congressional races, rated him as more vulnerable in 2018; and a top-tier Democrat, Andy Kim, a former White House national security aide, entered the race and already raised more money than his party's 2016 nominee.
Still, MacArthur spoke at a White House ceremony marking House passage, and President Donald Trump hosted a fundraiser for him at his Bedminster golf club.
MacArthur, while saying he would be willing to work with Democrats on health care legislation, said he wasn't giving up on Republicans passing their own plan.
"The game isn't over here," he said. "It's not like we're in the commentary after the ninth inning. We're still working on the issue. I gave it my best and I'm going continue to give it my best on this bill."
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook