After the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their damning report on Trumpcare 2.0 last night, Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) reportedly teared up because the bill cuts coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Listen, I lost my sister to breast cancer. I lost my dad to lung cancer. If anybody is sensitive to preexisting conditions, it’s me. I’m not going to make a political decision today that affects somebody’s sister or father because I wouldn’t do it to myself.
In the end, we’ve got to make sure there’s enough funding there to handle preexisting conditions and drive down premiums. And if we can’t do those three things, then we will have failed.
There's a couple obvious problems with this sentiment.
Mark Meadows voted for the bill. Moreover, the amendment that repeals coverage for pre-existing conditions, which was introduced by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NC), is the reason Mark Meadows and his fellow Batshit Caucus members voted for it.
Repealing coverage for pre-existing conditions brought the Freedom Caucus on board. Trumpcare was dead before MacArthur and Meadows resurrected it. They did this.
The CBO found that coverage for one sixth of the entire country could be jeopardized if pre-existing conditions are no longer covered, and that may even be a conservative estimate.