Mark Meadows defends GOP health care bill, says it does protect against pre-existing conditions

Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus Mark Meadows defended the Republicans’ health care bill Thursday saying that pre-existing conditions are definitely protected.

“When we look at pre-existing conditions, one of the things in this bill is if you have insurance, and you stay continually covered, and you get a diagnosis, your premiums can’t go up,” Mr. Meadows, North Carolina Republican, said on MSNBC.

He also said Republicans will address the lack of a Congressional Budget Office score on the bill with individual analysis and will possibly return to the idea of getting a score after the Senate makes its revisions.

“What we’ve done is actually looked at individual analysis. We’re looking at driving down costs,” Mr. Meadows said. “With these modifications and the modifications in the Senate, we’ll be able to address [the CBO score].”