Chaffetz clarifies comments on choosing between healthcare, iPhone

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on Tuesday appeared on Fox News to try to clarify his statement earlier in the morning that Americans may have to choose between buying a new iPhone or paying for health insurance.

“What we’re trying to say, and maybe I didn’t say as smoothly as I possibly could, but people need to make a conscious choice, and I believe in self-reliance,” Chaffetz told Fox News.

“And they’re going to have to make those decisions. We want people to have access to an affordable healthcare product.”

{mosads}Earlier Tuesday morning, Chaffetz said Americans may have to sacrifice buying a new iPhone in order to purchase insurance.

“And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to spend hundreds of dollars on, maybe they should invest in their own healthcare,” Chaffetz told CNN’s “New Day”.

The House Oversight Committee chairman’s comments come one day after House Republicans unveiled their much-anticipated legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

The new bills scrap ObamaCare’s subsidies to help purchase insurance, taxes and mandates requiring Americans to have insurance. They also overhaul Medicaid by capping federal payments.

President Trump’s administration has endorsed the legislation, but it has also earned backlash from Democrats as well as some conservative House Republicans and Senate Republicans who don’t want to dismantle Medicaid expansion.