House conservatives fighting against the healthcare reform bill are missing the fact it is part of a three-phased plan, and once all the pieces are in place, it will be a "fabulous presentation and bill," White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney said Wednesday.
"We have a bill that deals with everything in reconciliation," the director of the Office of Management and Budget told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"For example, the president talks about interstate sales and medical malpractice reform, and you can't do that through reconciliation. Those are separate stand-alone bills."
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said earlier on the program he was disappointed there was no scoring information available about the reform bill's cost, and Mulvaney said the score will be available before the final vote is tallied.
"We all know it's going to score positive to helping the deficit, to spending less money, another thing conservatives should be supportive of," Mulvaney said. "It is going to be really good or great when that number comes out, and it's going to be on Monday."
When asked if there is a range estimate of how many Americans will have health insurance, Mulvaney said the matter is being looked at differently, and "insurance is not the end goal here."
"It's one of the conservatives' and Republicans' complaints about the Affordable Care Act, it was a great way to get insurance and a lousy way to go to the doctor," Mulvaney said. "Can ordinary people afford to go to the doctor, and we are convinced it would be possible for more people to get better care at the doctor than this plan under Obamacare?"
The new measure will also not leave the "truly indigent" without coverage, as those in that income bracket will still get Medicaid, Mulvaney said.
"Conservatives have been talking for years and years about not just the money that can be saved, but the efficiencies that can be driven by giving control to the states about Medicaid, so the truly poor and indigent will have access to Medicaid," Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney also commented on President Donald Trump's planned budget, which critics have complained will cause the national debt to rise from $20 trillion to $30 trillion, saying Trump plans to spend more on defense while not adding to next year's deficit.
"We will still have a deficit next year, but that $54 additional billion we will not [add] to it because we will find savings elsewhere," Mulvaney said.
Also, he commented, Medicaid spending is "one of the large drivers of the debt."
"Here's a bill that not only repeals and replaces Obamacare but helps our long-term deficit on Medicaid, and look at what the president is doing to see what he really believes, and what he believes is, we do have to get that fiscal house in order," he said.