Trump offers contradictory responses on status of long-promised health care plan
President Donald Trump offered contradictory explanations about the status of his long-promised health care plan in an interview with “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl, saying initially that it is "fully developed” and will be announced "very soon" only to later say “we will come up with a plan” if the Affordable Care Act is invalidated by the Supreme Court.
Over his nearly four years in office, Trump has repeatedly promised to present a comprehensive health care plan of his own in his quest to do away with his predecessor's landmark "Affordable Care Act." He has yet to do so.
"It is developed. It is fully developed," Trump told Stahl when asked where his health care plan is and promised: “It's going to be announced very soon."
The president later contradicted his earlier statement, saying “we will come up with a plan" if the Supreme Court rules to nullify the law.
“Will,” Stahl interjected, calling the president on his use of the future tense after he previously said he already had a plan developed.
“We have large sections of it already done,” Trump then said.
The Trump administration currently has a case before the Supreme Court that could effectively strike down the ACA. President Trump told Stahl it is his “hope” that the case will do away with the law.
The president's expression of the law's total nullification contradicted the careful message that Senate Republicans have been delivering in trying to downplay the case's threat to the ACA, as Democrats have put the issue center stage in the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation.
Just prior to the president's tweet releasing a White House recording of his interview with “60 Minutes” prior to the interview's broadcast on CBS, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas stressed that "the issue before the Supreme Court is really one of severability. Just very technical doctrine. It doesn't have anything to do with the merits of the Affordable Care Act. It has to do whether you can sever the unconstitutional portion from the rest of the law and that it will survive."
The president, by contrast, told Stahl "it’ll be so good if they end it.”
The president also claimed his plan would be cheaper than Obamacare and cover people with preexisting conditions. But when Stahl tried to nail the president down on “how” he will cover people with preexisting conditions, the president did not offer any specifics and instead only insisted that people with preexisting conditions will be “totally protected.”
-ABC News' Jordyn Phelps
