White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday dodged a question about President Trump’s suggestion on Twitter to “add more dollars” to healthcare.
“There’s a lot of savings that are coming out of the repeal and replace effort right now. I think we’re at $119 billion that we saved through the president’s efforts,” he said, referring to the House bill’s reduction on the deficit. “Healthcare has been something that the president has been very clear on.”
Spicer was responding to a question asked during the White House press briefing about a tweet Trump sent Tuesday, writing: “I suggest that we add more dollars to Healthcare and make it the best anywhere. ObamaCare is dead — the Republicans will do much better!”
When pressed about whether the funding would be provided in the form of more money for high-risk pools, insurer payments or otherwise, Spicer would not specify, noting that the Obamacare repeal and replace bill was still being debated in the Senate. A Congressional Budget Office report last week suggested that billions of dollars for high-risk pools for the House bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, the American Health Care Act, would not provide adequate funding to help cover people with pre-existing illnesses in some states.
Senators have said they will use the CBO score as a guide in writing their own legislation, and some have said that they will look at increasing federal funding for high-risk pools or consider other methods to guarantee coverage.
“The bill is in progress … and he’s willing to work with them to do whatever it takes,” Spicer said of Trump’s involvement in the healthcare legislation.
