Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on Tuesday morning said that all Americans will have access to health insurance and the “financial feasibility” to purchase it after repeatedly dodging questions on whether the Republican plan to replace Obamacare will cause people to lose their insurance.
His comments came after the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the Republican legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare would cause 24 million people to lose their health coverage by 2026.
“Every single American will have access and have the financial feasibility to purchase it,” Price said on NBC’s “Today,” noting that the plan provides tax credits to help some people purchase insurance.
The comment came after he dodged several questions about President Donald Trump’s campaign trail pledge that everyone would be covered by a replacement.
“No, the fact of the matter is that if you look at the whole plan, what the President said is absolutely right,” Price said when first asked if the Trump administration should admit that the Republican replacement plan will cause people to lose health insurance. “Obamacare has failed.”
Asked if he was saying that nobody would lose coverage, Price then replied, “What we’re saying is that the current system has failed.” He said that premiums and deductibles are rising and that the CBO score “doesn’t account for that.” He also said that the CBO only looked at one third of Republicans’ plan.
“With our whole plan, every single American will have access to coverage. It will be coverage that’s more responsive to them, that will allow them to choose, and that will be less expensive than the current situation,” he said.
Watch the interview via NBC:
He’s not one of the brightest of Trump’s people, is he?
Oh so someone has decided to scrap this bill and just improve on ACA?
Glenn Kessler will have to break out the 5th Pinocchio for this lie!
Ahhh, the secure embrace of feasibility!
So upto 72 Million will be deprived of health care?