President Donald Trump promised--multiple times--over the weekend that his replacement for Obamacare would cover pre-existing conditions, but argued that the government should spend more time solving the North Korean problem than worrying about Americans' health care.
Trump told CBS host John Dickerson that he advised Republicans in Congress to "just relax, don't worry about this phony 100-day thing, just relax, take it easy, take your time, get the good vote and make it perfect."
"We're going to drive down premiums, we're going to drive down deductibles because right now deductibles are so high -- unless you're going to die a long, hard death, you can never get to use your health care," the president insisted.
"Pre-existing [conditions] is going to be [in the Obamacare replacement bill and we're also going to create [high risk] pools and pools are going to take care of the pre-existing [conditions]." Trump apparently has not been apprised of the current negotiations for "Trumpcare 3.0", because part of the appeal to the Freedom Caucus was to remove any mitigation for pre-existing conditions, except for Congress.
As Dickerson pressed for details, Trump began to get annoyed.
"Look, if you hurt your knee, honestly, I'd rather have the federal government focus on North Korea, focus on other things than your knee or than your back, as important as your back is," Trump declared. "I would much rather see the federal government focused on other things."
