WASHINGTON — President Trump will take executive action “in the weeks ahead” to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions as his administration tries to kill ObamaCare in the Supreme Court, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday.
In an interview with CBS Evening News, Pence was asked about a brewing legal battle which could see tens of millions of Americans lose access to health care as the government argues that a mandate requiring people have health care is unconstitutional.
The looming fight over the Affordable Care Act has come into even sharper view after the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, clearing a path for Trump to select a third nominee and create the first conservative majority since the 1960s.
“We’ve long believed that the individual mandate at the center of ObamaCare was unconstitutional,” the veep told anchor Norah O’Donnell when asked if he wanted to install a justice who would kill the ACA.
“But make no mistakes about it, the president’s also been very clear that we’re going to make sure that any American with a pre-existing condition continues to have coverage,” he went on.
“The president’s going to take action in the weeks ahead to ensure that, and we’re going to continue to take our case to Capitol Hill to pass a new health care reform bill that will lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government,” he said.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments just days after the November presidential election on a case brought by a number of Republican states as the Trump administration tries to invalidate the law.
Trump has repeatedly promised to unveil a health care plan but missed his own August deadline.
Last month, the president told reporters that he would sign an executive order forcing insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions.
In 2017, Republican’s efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act in Congress were foiled by the late Arizona Sen. John McCain who voted with Democrats and prevented any changes to President Barack Obama’s signature law.
The Affordable Care Act, signed into law by Obama in 2010, contained an “individual mandate” requiring that Americans have a basic level of health care coverage.
It also imposed a tax penalty for those who did not have coverage — something Republicans got rid of when they overhauled the tax code in 2017 and now argue is unconstitutional.
