Mulvaney: If Your State Doesn’t Mandate Maternity Care, Change Your State

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Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, one of the top administration officials who had been working to pass the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, on Friday morning brushed off concerns about a new provision in the bill that repeals the Essential Health Benefits requirement.

That provision would repeal a requirement that insurers cover a list of 10 essential benefits, including maternity care. Asked about this on CBS’ “This Morning,” Mulvaney argued that states can still require that insurance companies cover the EHBs.

“If you live in a state that wants to mandate maternity coverage for everybody, including 60-year-old women, that’s fine,” he said.

Co-host Alex Wagner asked Mulvaney about people who do not live in a state that requires maternity coverage.

“Then you can figure out a way to change the state that you live in,” Mulvaney replied.

Wagner asked if Mulvaney meant that people should move.

“No, they can try to change their own state legislatures and their state laws,” he responded. “Why do we look to the federal government to try and fix our local problems?”

Watch the interview via CBS:

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