RUN FOR ‘COVER’

24M uninsured not a problem: budget director

Insurance coverage doesn’t guarantee that people get medical care, a top Trump administration official said Tuesday to counter a report that 24 million fewer individuals would buy insurance by 2026 under the House GOP’s new health-care plan.

“Coverage is not the end. People don’t get better with coverage. They get better with care,” Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director, said Tuesday on MSNBC.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer argued later that Obama Care offers not “real care” but a rather “cute little plastic card that I can wave around.”

Administration officials claim that deductibles under Obama-Care are so high that many people skip doctors’ visits.

“The Democrats were concerned about coverage; they’re patting themselves on the back for giving you coverage,” Mulvaney added on CNN. “But you still couldn’t afford to go to the doctor.”

But the Congressional Budget Office found that many of those who would lose care would have qualified for Medicaid, the government-funded health-insurance system for the poor in which deductibles aren’t an issue.

In a report issued Monday, the CBO said that 24 million fewer Americans would buy health insurance by 2026 under the GOP plan — including 14 million now eligible for Medicaid under Obama Care.

Trump, who campaigned on a promise of saving Medicaid and insuring “everybody,” stayed quiet about the CBO’s coverage estimates. The president ignored a shouted question about the CBO report in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon.

But Spicer called the CBO “consistently wrong” about predicting health-care coverage figures. “They’re good at dollars — not as good with people,” he charged.

He said the CBO report doesn’t take into account yet-to-be-introduced Phases 2 and 3 of Trump’s vision for health-care reform.

Those include efforts to expand Health Savings Accounts, streamline drug approvals, allow small businesses to pool together to buy insurance, allow health-care sales across state lines and reform medical malpractice laws.

Asked whether he would concede that millions fewer would sign up for insurance under a repeal of Obama Care, Spicer responded, “Sure.”

But he insisted Trump’s plan would boost coverage options to “roughly 20 million people” who currently do not buy insurance because of economic hardship.

“If they actually had choices and had a plan option that was down at a budget they could afford, there’s a higher likelihood that they would buy a plan,” Spicer said.

To shore up House conservative votes, the White House is working with lawmakers on a so-called “manager’s amendment” to alleviate some of their concerns that the law doesn’t go far enough to repeal Obama Care.

Democrats have pounced on the CBO figures as proof Americans will suffer under Trump’s healthcare plan while the wealthy get a tax break.

“They should just pull the plug on this bill,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said at the Capitol, flanked by patients who would be hurt by the GOP plan.

Coverage is not the end. People don't get better with coverage. They get better with care. — Mick Mulvaney