Tom Price: ‘We don’t believe’ anyone will lose health coverage under GOP bill

The Trump administration expects that the GOP’s ObamaCare replacement bill will not cause anyone to lose health insurance, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Friday.

“We don’t believe that individuals will lose coverage at all, so long as they’re able to select the kind of plan that they want for themselves and for their family,” Price told MSNBC.

Price said ObamaCare has caused Americans to lose their health insurance due to rising deductibles and premiums as well as a lack of competition among insurers in certain parts of the country.

{mosads}Critics of the replacement plan say it would insure fewer people while costing the government more money.

House GOP leadership on Monday unveiled its proposal to repeal and replace ObamaCare — a longtime goal and campaign promise of most Republicans.

The measure, formally known as the American Health Care Act, does away with ObamaCare’s mandate requiring most people to buy health insurance and ends the law’s Medicaid expansion that insures more than 10 million people across 31 states and the District of Columbia.

Some conservative members of Congress, such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), argue that the bill does not go far enough in rolling back ObamaCare.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is expected to release its assessment of the bill on Monday, estimating its potential cost and impact.

Seemingly concerned with a likely bad evaluation, Republican congressional leaders and the White House have begun a push to discredit the CBO ahead of its judgement, pointing to instances in the past when it’s erred.