White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that any new healthcare policy President Trump endorses in the future would include protections for those with pre-existing conditions.
“The president’s been clear. Whatever policy he puts forth on healthcare, it will protect pre-existing conditions,” Sanders told Fox News Monday morning.
“At the end of the day, the president’s going to do what is necessary to protect people with pre-existing conditions, but also create a healthcare system that actually works, that actually functions, that has competition, that creates an environment where people get the type of healthcare that they need, not just a card that says they have health insurance,” Sanders said. “Those are two very different things and this president wants to make sure that people have actual healthcare, not just health insurance.”
Trump had endorsed the American Health Care Act at the beginning of his administration, which included some funding for some with pre-existing conditions, but critics said at the time the proposal did not go far enough.
In May 2017, the House passed that bill, but the Senate did not take it up and a similar bill failed to pass the upper chamber.
The White House has said a handful of times in recent weeks that it would support a bill that supports people with pre-existing conditions, but it has not shared a specific bill it’s behind.
[Related: Scott Walker on the defensive over pre-existing conditions]
.@PressSec: “The president’s been clear. Whatever policy he puts forth on health care, it will protect pre-existing conditions.” @foxandfriends pic.twitter.com/ebNNZuUO2w
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 5, 2018
