House Speaker Paul Ryan said in an interview that aired Sunday that he couldn’t answer whether healthcare coverage would rise or insurance premiums would go up under his replacement plan for Obamacare, saying instead that those outcomes would be driven by markets and consumer choice.
Asked by CBS’ “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson how many people would lose coverage under the Republican plan, Ryan responded, “I can’t answer that question. It’s up to people.”
The “fatal conceit” of Obamacare, Ryan argued, was requiring people to buy health insurance plans. “It is our job to have a system where people can get universal access to affordable coverage if they choose to do so or not.”
Ryan also noted that Republicans couldn’t guarantee that insurance premiums won’t rise in the years ahead, arguing that Obamacare is going through an ongoing collapse that could drive premiums higher.
“We can’t promise that that’s not going to happen,” Ryan said, going on to explain that “what we can promise is, we’re going to replace it with a better system so we have more insurers, more choices, more competition, prices go down, and we give people the ability to go access affordable coverage.”
People afraid of losing existing coverage will face a “smooth transition, a stable transition” to the new system, Ryan guaranteed.
He also said that Congress would have an estimate of the bill’s fiscal and coverage effects from the Congressional Budget Office this week, before they vote on the bill.
