WATCH: Doctor-lawmaker blames Obamacare for driving health costs higher

By Fox News · Fox News

A doctor-turned-House Republican is arguing that there is a direct link between the Affordable Care Act (ACA) , colloquially known as Obamacare, and the increasing cost of healthcare putting a strain on Americans' wallets. "They removed choice by patients by limiting and prohibiting association health plans, so small businesses were disadvantaged," said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa. "They had mandates for how the rating for insurance companies can go — they had mandated essential benefits, so people that are young and healthy and may not want a lot of healthcare, they just want it for catastrophic, couldn't get just catastrophic coverage, so there was no choice in what benefits you had." Miller-Meeks said it led to people having to pay for their health premiums but not being able to afford the deductible to actually go see a doctor — in other words, "You can have insurance, but not care." SENATE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL PLAN TO REPLACE OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES WITH HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS She said costs were also driven up by "simple things such as prohibiting doctors from doing things in their office, but paying a hospital more, which led to the development of hospital outpatient clinics." "Well, they paid the hospitals more to do it, so you weren't having [a simple procedure] done at a doctor's office…it was done at the hospital. So there are many things within the unaffordable care act that drove up healthcare costs ," she explained. Miller-Meeks is leading the House GOP's "Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act," a bill that House Republican leaders say is aimed at lowering healthcare costs for a broader swath of the country than simply extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year. MODERATE REPUBLICANS STAGE OBAMACARE REBELLION AS HEALTH COST FRUSTRATIONS ERUPT IN HOUSE It's set to be voted on in the early evening on Wednesday, when it's expected to pass roughly along party lines. The plan as-is includes provisio…