THE FACTS: His rhetoric is at odds with his actions. In reality, his administration is seeking in a lawsuit to eliminate such coverage. His Justice Department is arguing in court that those protections in the Obama-era health law should fall. The short-term health plans Trump often promotes as a bargain alternative offer no guarantee of covering pre-existing conditions.
Government lawyers said in legal filings last June that they will no longer defend key parts of the Affordable Care Act, including provisions that guarantee access to health insurance regardless of any medical conditions. Then-Attorney General Sessions wrote in a letter to Congress that Trump approved the legal strategy.
Obama's health care law requires insurers to take all applicants, regardless of medical history, and patients with health problems pay the same standard premiums as healthy ones.
Trump made no effort to woo mainstream GOP elected officials. He remarked, "I am a Republican, and I am disappointed with our Republican politicians because they let our president get away with absolute murder."
I sent my jet out and brought the little boy and his parents to NYC with the hope that doctors here might find a cure for the severe breathing illness from which he was suffering. His cure was not to be, but his parents remained grateful to this day.
Trump tweeted his support for the ruling, saying, "ObamaCare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster!" He continued, "Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions." Another tweet said, "Wow, but not surprisingly, ObamaCare was just ruled UNCONSTITUTIONAL by a highly respected judge in Texas. Great news for America!"
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to become House speaker in January, vowed to fight what she called an "absurd ruling."
CLINTON: No, he clarified what he meant. If we were to start all over again, we might come up with a different system. But we have an employer-based system. So let's fix what's broken about it, but let's not throw it away.
TRUMP: First of all, everything's broken about it. Everything.
Q: You've said you want to end ObamaCare, but you've also said you want to make coverage accessible for people with pre-existing conditions. How?
TRUMP: We're going to be able to. You're going to have plans that are so good, because we're going to have so much competition in the insurance industry.
Q: Are you going to have a mandate?
TRUMP: ObamaCare, by the way, was a fraud. Jonathan Gruber, the architect of ObamaCare, said it was a great lie, it was a big lie. President Obama said you keep your doctor, you keep your plan. The whole thing was a fraud, and it doesn't work.
TRUMP: Well, I'm OK with the savings accounts. I think it's a good idea; it's a very down-the-middle idea. It works. It's something that's proven. The one thing we have to do is repeal and replace ObamaCare. It is a disaster. People's premiums are going up 35 percent, 45 percent, 55 percent. Their deductibles are so high nobody's ever going to get to use it. So ObamaCare is turning out to be a bigger disaster than anybody thought.
Q: So if you agree with these health savings accounts idea, do you also agree with Ben Carson when he says Medicare probably won't be necessary?
TRUMP: Well, it's possible. You're going to have to look at that, but I'll tell you what, the health savings accounts, I've been talking about it also. I think it's a very good idea.
And remember the $5 billion Web site? $5 billion we spent on a Web site, and to this day it doesn't work. I have so many Web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a Web site.
And it's going to get worse, because remember, ObamaCare really kicks in, in 2016. It is going to be amazingly destructive. Doctors are quitting. I have a friend who's a doctor, and he said to me, "Donald, I never saw anything like it. I have more accountants than I have nurses."
We have to repeal ObamaCare, and it can be replaced with something much better for everybody. Let it be for everybody. But much better and much less expensive for people and for the government. And we can do it.