The head of the Department of Health said Friday he believes President Trump will follow through on his plan to move on to other issues if the GOP’s health care bill dies in the House.
“Well, I think this bill is going to pass today, but I would take the president at his word,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I think he has done as much as anyone could expect a president to do to get a piece of legislation passed.”
Mr. Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan are urging lawmakers to pass the bill Friday.
Mr. Price said the bill is the first step in a three-part plan that aims to undo Obamacare and make the health care system more patient-centered.
“What is important for all of us to focus on is that the current plan, the current law is failing the American people,” Mr. Price said of the Affordable Care Act. “We have costs going up, we have care and choices going down and it is only getting worse”
The proposal stalled out Thursday after the Trump administration and House leaders realized they did not have the votes to pass the legislation. The vote is now expected Friday and the White House has said the time for negotiation is over — ratcheting up pressure on the holdouts to fall into line.
“Nothing is going to change at this point for this piece of legislation because what people have to appreciate again is that there is a larger plan and that is what we have tried to get folks to focus on,” Mr. Price said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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