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Trump did not
give the newspaper specifics about his proposals to replace
Democratic President Barack Obama's signature health insurance
law, but said the plan was nearly finished and he was ready to
unveil it alongside the leaders of the Republican-controlled
Congress. The Republican president-elect takes office on Friday.
"It’s very much formulated down to the final strokes. We haven’t
put it in quite yet but we’re going to be doing it soon," Trump
told the Post, adding he was waiting for his nominee for health
and human services secretary, Tom Price, to be confirmed.
The plan, he said, would include "lower numbers, much lower
deductibles," without elaborating.
“We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” Trump said.
“There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay
for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”
Trump was also quoted as saying in the interview that he would
target pharmaceutical companies over drug pricing and insist
they negotiate directly with the Medicare and Medicaid
government health plans for the elderly and poor.
U.S. House Republicans won passage on Friday of a measure
starting the process of dismantling the Affordable Care Act,
popularly known as Obamacare, despite concerns about not having
a ready replacement and the potential financial cost of
repealing the law.
With the vote, Republicans began delivering on their promise to
end Obamacare, also a campaign pledge of Trump, who has called
the program a "disaster."
The law, which expanded health coverage to some 20 million
people, has been plagued by increases in insurance premiums and
deductibles and by some large insurers leaving the system.
Republicans have called Obamacare federal government overreach
and have sought to undermine it in Congress and the courts since
it was passed by Democratic majorities in the House and Senate
in 2010.
Democrats say Obamacare has allowed growing numbers of Americans
to get medical insurance and helped slow the rise in healthcare
spending.
(Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter
Cooney)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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