White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the idea that people will choose to leave Medicaid coverage once the Affordable Care Act is repealed is “absurd,” contradicting what Republican leadership has said about the bill.
Mulvaney said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that 24 million people will lose their health insurance by 2026 is based on the idea that people will voluntarily leave expanded Medicaid coverage.
“You get down into the details on it, one of the things you see is the CBO assumes that once the mandate is gone, people will voluntarily drop off expanded Medicaid,” Mulvaney said. “Think about that for a second. The CBO is assuming, to get to that 24 million people, that you get Medicaid for free and once that mandate that you take it is gone, you will give up that free benefit. It’s just absurd.”
Mulvaney’s criticism of the CBO’s analysis stands in direct contrast to the arguments of House Speaker Paul Ryan and other House GOP leaders that people will choose to not have health insurance if the American Health Care Act passes because people would no longer be forced to buy something they don’t want to have. Ryan said that is the explanation for the CBO’s estimate that 24 million people would no longer have health insurance.
“What the CBO is basically saying, and I agree with this, if the government’s not going to force somebody to buy something they don’t want to buy, then they’re not going to buy it,” Ryan said minutes before on ABC. “So they’re basically saying people, through their own free choice, if they’re not mandated to buy something that’s unaffordable, they’re not going to do it.”
When asked if President Trump would sign a bill that could hurt some of his voters, something Trump has promised not to do, Mulvaney urged caution.
“We’re all sort of guessing right now because the negotiation is ongoing,” he said. “The bill that passed out of the House is most likely not the bill that will be put in front of the president.”
He added, “It’s important that we reserve judgment on what the president will or won’t sign.”
Mulvaney said he’s confident that whatever the form, the healthcare reform law Trump signs into law will provide a more stable and affordable system for Americans.
He said Obamacare is falling apart due to health insurance providers pulling out of many counties in certain states where it’s too expensive to provide it. He said he can promise health insurance will be available to all Americans.
“One of the big pushes that we’re making is we’re going to provide a system that is actually sustainable,” Mulvaney said.
