OMB's Mulvaney: Medicaid Still in Place for the 'Truly Indigent'

White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney said Sunday the GOP's plan to repeal and replace Obamacare will keep Medicaid for the "truly indigent" while letting individual states "provide better services for less."

In an interview on ABC News' "This Week," the director of the Office of Management and Budget and former GOP lawmaker from South Carolina praised the plan's framework for helping" a great many people… get something they need, which is healthcare, not health coverage."

"We're making sure that the truly indigent still have care," Mulvaney said. "Medicaid is still there. We think it's going to be even better."

He said for those "just above Medicaid" who "still have difficulty buying their own premiums," the plan will have a refundable tax credit and "the ability ... to pay for their healthcare on a tax advantage basis, just like you and I get."

He also argued governors in states around the country want more control over the Medicaid funding they get, even as it's eventually is reduced.

"They're begging for better control to get more efficiency to serve their people," he said. "The Medicaid system today is a one size fits all system. We fixed that. You can provide better services for less if you get the federal government out of the way."

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