The American Health Care Act repeals and replaces Obamacare simultaneously, and President Donald Trump is "very positive" about its passage while being open to discussion on changes sought by conservative lawmakers, White House presidential counsel Kellyanne Conway said Wednesday.
"The president made clear, as did the vice president, that this is the plan and the president has also used the word negotiation," Conway told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program.
"There's a process at play called reconciliation. Everyone knows, as this American Health Care Act makes its way through the normal channels it will probably be changed somewhat."
The bill repeals and replaces in quick succession, she said, so those who rely on coverage don't have any disruptions.
"You have many Americans who live in what we call Medicaid-expansion states, and governors expanded it through the Affordable Care Act," said Conway. "Let's be clear what problems we're trying to solve here. You're talking about roughly a third of the counties across the U.S. who have one insurance provider, which is a non-choice, and five states with no choices."
The more broad principles will remain, she said, but Trump is confident the measure will pass Congress and become law.
At the same time, the Trump administration appreciates that there are others offering ideas, "but this has been worked on over a series of weeks if not months and the president and vice president have taken leadership. I want to say this is a piece of legislation also that has presidential leadership. He's really husbanding this through."
However, she insisted that it won't be called "Trumpcare."
"It's the American Health Care Act and named that for a reason," Conway said. "Everyone has access and that didn't happen under Obamacare. I'll call it Trumpcare if you want to, but I didn't hear President Trump say to any of us 'I want my name on that.'
"It's not about branding according to someone's name. It's serious business. People in this country feel that their healthcare has been significantly reduced, and the costs have gone up."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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