Top Donald Trump aide Kellyanne Conway — who is set to become a senior White House adviser — wouldn’t commit to a time line for replacing Obamacare, despite a claim by a top Republican senator about Trump’s position.
Sen. Rand Paul claimed the President-elect supports the Kentucky Republican’s calls to approve an Obamacare replacement on the same day Congress repeals the health care law.
That’d be big news: Congressional Republicans haven’t yet figured out what they’ll replace Obamacare with — and Paul is on a lonely crusade to slow down what’s expected to be a vote early in the year to repeal it.
Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday whether Trump and Paul agree that a replacement needs to be passed at the same time Obamacare is repealed, Conway dodged.
“I can confirm that he is committed to replacing Obamacare with something that actually is affordable and accessible and allows you to buy health insurance over state lines,” she said.
She said Trump is working with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, congressional Republicans and his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, former Rep. Tom Price, on how to roll back and replace the law.
“He’s very committed to repealing and replacing it. Mr. Trump has been very up-front about what some of those particulars are,” she said. “And we also know that you have popular provisions like coverage for pre-existing conditions. We also know there are Americans relying upon it now.”