The Trump administration will release a health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act “fairly shortly,” acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday.
Administration officials and White House aides, including Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, met for a Saturday summit at Camp David to discuss possible proposals, according to CNN.
“I do think you’ll see a plan here fairly shortly,” Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.” Mulvaney, a former member of the House Freedom Caucus, reportedly pushed the Trump administration to back a lawsuit seeking to overturn the ACA.
“Republicans have better ideas than Democrats. We should not be afraid to talk about that,” Mulvaney said. “We want to run on this.”
President Trump recently announced he will revisit health care after the 2020 election, insisting the issue is a winning one for Republicans. “You got to confront it. We’ll be the party of health care. Republicans should not run away from health care. You can’t do it. You’re going to get clobbered,” he said last week. “If we stay away from that subject, we’re going to lose. We’re going to lose. We can’t stay away. It’s too important.”
Numerous Republicans have questioned the administration’s decision. Azar and Attorney General William Barr reportedly were opposed to backing the lawsuit, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) last week called on Barr to defend the health care law in court. Mulvaney has insisted a ruling against the ACA would not result in anyone losing health care coverage.