In the Sunday edition of The Washington Post, President-elect Donald Trump said his plan to replace the Affordable Care Act will include “insurance for everybody" and that he understands that repeal of the law without replacement would leave up to 30 million without coverage.
"We're going to have insurance for everybody,” Trump told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “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.”
“They can expect to have great health care. It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better,” he said, hinting the lower costs would come in the form of lower deductibles. He did say he was not in favor of single-payer healthcare coverage.
Trump did not share specifics on how he would accomplish what sounds like universal healthcare and whether he is concerned that the idea would put him at odds with members of his party.
Trump, who takes office on Friday, said he is waiting for his health secretary nominee, U.S. Rep. Tom Price, to be confirmed. Price is scheduled to appear Wednesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.
The ACA replacement plan that Price, a surgeon from Georgia, presented while chairing the House Budget Committee, did not include universal coverage.
Trump said he is crafting his own plan in case he doesn't like the ones Congress has written. He also said he would bypass any concerns about delaying the repeal until a replacement is crafted. Some Republicans have said they'd like to see as many as four years pass before all provisions of the law were repealed.
During the interview, Trump also said he will force drug companies to negotiate with Medicare and Medicaid and said they will no longer be “politically protected."
Trump's comments came just days after Congress took steps to dismantle the ACA through a budget resolution.
They also came the same day that Democratic members of Congress rallied their constituents across the country to protest the repeal of the ACA.