WH Chief Of Staff Mulvaney Dodges Questions About Pre-Existing Conditions

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney declared Sunday that “the debate about preexisting conditions is over” in Republicans’ larger battle to eliminate and replace Obamacare.

But as CNN’s Jake Tapper grilled Mulvaney on the White House’s currently non-existent plan to replace Obamacare, should Republicans succeed in eliminating the Affordable Care Act in court, the White House chief struggled to answer how Republicans would protect Americans with pre-existing conditions from skyrocketing insurance costs should they lose Obamacare’s legal protections.

Tapper summed up Mulvaney’s problem succinctly in an interview Sunday: Under Obamacare, he noted, insurers can’t charge people with pre-existing conditions higher premiums for that reason. “The Republican plans do not do that,” Tapper said.

Mulvaney dodged: “Let’s talk about that for a second. Let’s talk about what Obamacare does,” he began, before pivoting and ignoring the issue.

Eventually, though, he said Republicans would only put forward a plan once the lawsuit the Trump administration recently joined to eliminate Obamacare is over.

“What we’re going to do over the course of the next couple months — because the lawsuit will move fairly slowly — is to come up with something that can pass into law. We’d love to work with Democrats. We don’t think they’re going to do that with us until that lawsuit is over.”

Consistently, Mulvaney dodged questions about Republicans’ plan to protect people with pre-existing conditions.

“Wouldn’t it be responsible to have the replacement there before you take the insurance away from the individuals, the tens of millions of Americans who are relying on it?” Tapper asked at one point.

Mulvaney pivoted again: “I don’t know, would it be responsible for the Democrats to pass a decent bill in the first place? They didn’t do that.”

In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” Mulvaney recited a similar line. “The debate about pre-existing conditions is over. Both parties support them. And anyone telling you anything differently is lying to you for political gain,” he claimed.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. File under the most unsurprising news I’ve read all weekend.

  2. Mick Mulvaney is a wiggly weasel, just like every other minion of Donnie.

  3. Avatar for outis outis says:

    Mulvaney has his own pre-existing condition . . . he is an immoral idiot. (At least dodging the question shows that they know it is a problem for them.)

  4. Avatar for tpr tpr says:

    “Wouldn’t it be responsible to have the replacement there before you take the insurance away from the individuals, the tens of millions of Americans who are relying on it?” Tapper asked at one point.

    Mulvaney pivoted again: “I don’t know, would it be responsible for the Democrats to pass a decent bill in the first place? They didn’t do that.”

    So the GOP refuses to plan an orderly transition because the ACA isn’t “decent?”

    The GOP is the party of spite. This is how they make decisions. “Who can we hurt because we’re pissed at someone?”

  5. Why can’t people just die already?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

95 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for hobbitdave Avatar for clemmers Avatar for navamske Avatar for tigersharktoo Avatar for sandyh Avatar for lastroth Avatar for quin Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for pshah Avatar for sjay1956 Avatar for raincntry Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for jinnj Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for birdford Avatar for tiowally Avatar for michaelryerson Avatar for eisenst Avatar for dougsanders Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for paul_lukasiak

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: