House Majority Whip Steve Scalise promised no one with a pre-existing condition who maintains continuous health insurance will lose coverage under the House GOP health plan.
On MSNBC Friday, Scalise said no one with a pre-existing condition will have to pay more for insurance or lose protection under the American Health Care Act, passed Thursday by a razor-thin margin.
“Anybody who’s continuously covered gets priced like everybody (else), whether you have a pre-existing condition or not,” Scalise said.
“If you have a plan today and you have a pre-existing condition, you’ll be protected forever. You can move from one plan to another,” he added.
The Congressional Budget Office has not done an independent analysis of the latest version of the American Health Care Act in the form it took when it passed the House. The CBO is expected to finish its analysis of the bill next week.
Republican senators said Thursday they do not plan to take up the House GOP bill in its current form and will start with a clean slate.
Scalise argued that the bill is a tax cut for everyone and will provide insurance that allows people to go to the doctor, which he says is vastly different than the current system.
“They’ve got insurance that really doesn’t work for them,” he said. “They have it because of the law and yet they’re paying out of pocket for everything anyway. They’re saying give me some relief here.”
