Democrats are speaking out against President Donald Trump's order guaranteeing that people with preexisting conditions will receive access to affordable healthcare because they believe their "lies about the Affordable Care Act," Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Friday.
"That promise was made in the Affordable Care Act but for 30 million Americans priced out of the individual market by the excesses and infirmities of the Affordable Care Act it doesn't solve their problem," Azar said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
For example, he said, a 55-year-old couple in Missouri who makes $70,000 a year will pay $30,000 in premiums and have a $12,000 deductible.
"That's not coverage of your preexisting conditions," said Azar. "It is a meaningless insurance card for you. President Trump will work to ensure that if the court strikes down all or part of Obamacare, people with preexisting conditions have real coverage, real affordable coverage for their pre-existing conditions."
He added that Trump will not sign any legislation Congress passes to replace the ACA unless it provides "real coverage for people with pre-existing conditions."
Employer-sponsored markets have protected people with preexisting conditions for years by providing affordable insurance coverage that doesn't collapse the market, said Azar.
"There are many approaches," he said. "Obamacare is one possible approach. It hasn't been the most successful."
Meanwhile, Trump's plan to send out $200 discount cards to America's seniors for their prescription costs before the election is "very important" for their healthcare needs, Azar insisted.
"I used to be in the pharmaceutical industry and studies that show if an individual has to pay more than $50 in co-payment for their drugs, they will not be adherent to their medicines," said Azar. "It has a major impact on healthcare ... this is a proposition that if you reduce out of pockets, that you ought to be able to reduce healthcare costs and improve health outcomes."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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