President Trump “either doesn’t know or doesn’t care” what his health care bill will do to his most ardent supporters, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday.
“He really doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It’s most unfortunate,” she told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, said the Republican bill pushed by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan amounts to a massive transfer of wealth from poor to the rich.
“Robin Hood in reverse, some people call it Ryan Hood,” Mrs. Pelosi said.
The Congressional Budget Office said the GOP plan will save $300 billion but result in 24 million fewer people holding insurance a decade from now.
Breaking down the numbers, Mrs. Pelosi said repealing Obamacare’s taxes will mainly benefit rich people in blue states, while poorer people in red states that backed Mr. Trump in large numbers will suffer from the parts of the bill that replace Obamacare’s subsidies with refundable, age-based tax credits and cap federal funding for Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor.
Mrs. Pelosi said Obamacare does have its flaws but Congress should work to smooth them over instead of scrapping it outright.
Mr. Ryan on Sunday said Mr. Trump does, in fact, know what he’s doing and is negotiating changes to the GOP bill to bring enough Republicans on board.
In particular, the speaker told “Fox News Sunday” that Republicans are eyeing changes that would help older Americans who could see higher premiums under a part of their plan that lets insurers charge those aged 50 to 64 up to five times more what they charge young adults.
Mr. Ryan said future regulatory action by the Trump administration and bills the GOP will write will then bring down premiums for everyone.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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