President-elect Donald Trump is offering a few more hints about what he’d like to see in a health care overhaul package, mentioning block granting Medicaid dollars to the states as one possibility and cooperating with private companies to insure people who can afford it.
“We’re going to have a plan, it’s going to be great for people, and it’s going to be much less expensive,” Mr. Trump said in an interview that aired Wednesday on “Fox & Friends.” “And you will be able to actually have something to say about who your doctor is and your plan.”
“We have to cover people that can’t afford it, and that’s what I’m talking about,” he said. “And we’ll probably have block grants of Medicaid back into the states, and we’ll do things because there are people that can’t afford it.”
“And nobody’s going to be dying on the streets with a President Trump. We want to take care of everybody,” he said.
Informed that a lot of people are worried about who will pay for that, Mr. Trump said: “Well, you watch.”
“We’re going to get private insurance companies to take care of a lot of the people that can afford it. That’s going to take a tremendous burden off, and they’re going to be able to have plans that are great plans, so that’s very important,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s comments about taking care of everybody echo what he told The Washington Post recently, which was that he wants to have “insurance for everybody.”
Some Republicans said they took that to mean Mr. Trump was saying all Americans should have “access” to health insurance.
Congressional Republicans continue to work through plans to repeal Obamacare and say they plan to pass a replacement plan at the same time so people don’t wake up one morning and discover they’re uninsured.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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