Meet the Press interviews during 2018: on Health Care

Lauren Underwood: Protect ObamaCare, and fix it for lower drug prices

REP.-ELECT LAUREN UNDERWOOD: We have to protect health care for people with pre-existing conditions. It is the most critical issue in this election--

Q: I imagine preexisting conditions was huge in your district. And it was the number one advertised subject. That's the chief promise you believe you made?

UNDERWOOD: Absolutely.

Q: How do you think that's going to get done?

UNDERWOOD: Well, it's going to get done immediately because we can protect the Affordable Care Act and we can fix it. We can stabilize premium prices, we can lower drug prices. But this idea that somehow people with pre-existing conditions might be vulnerable is something that I would never support.

Josh Hawley: ObamaCare has raised premiums by 145%

JOSH HAWLEY: On healthcare, Missourians are paying outrageous healthcare costs, up 145% price increases in the state. They want to see that change. Claire McCaskill is responsible.

Q: If you get elected, are you going to vote to repeal and replace ObamaCare?

JOSH HAWLEY: Yes, I would. I think it's absolutely vital that we get rid of the failures of ObamaCare, we bring down costs, we protect people with pre-existing conditions in the law with a mandate, Chuck, that ensures that we do it, but that we multiply options for families. You know, I have had family after family, in this state, come up to me and say, "Look, we can't afford our health insurance. We're having to get a second job, send a spouse back to work." It shouldn't have to be that way.

Josh Hawley: Cover pre-existing conditions by mandate, without ObamaCare

JOSH HAWLEY: There are a number of ways to do it, to protect folks with pre-existing conditions. Congress should mandate it. My position is insurance companies should be required, by law, to protect folks with pre-existing conditions.

Q: Do you think that's constitutional?

HAWLEY: I do, absolutely. What's not constitutional is the requirement that people buy health insurance they don't want. But it's absolutely constitutional to say that insurers have to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Congress should mandate it. People like my own little boy, who has a pre-existing condition, should be covered under the law, but apart from ObamaCare. We don't have to have ObamaCare to do it. I think we need to clear away the failure of ObamaCare and put patients back in charge of their healthcare.