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Trump Issues New Travel Ban; Start of White House Briefing HHS Secretary Talks about Health Care Bill. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 7, 2017 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:33:55] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, we're told, momentarily the White House press briefing will begin. Press Secretary Sean Spicer will have certainly no short subject of topics to discuss at this briefing. Expected to get underway momentarily. Some of the aides are already inside. Others are behind the scenes over there getting ready to walk out with Sean Spicer.

As we await the start of this briefing, let's bring in Tony Blinken. He's our CNN global affairs analyst and a former deputy of state.

Tony, thanks for joining us.

TONY BLINKEN, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good to be here.

BLITZER: As we await Sean Spicer, I know one of the subjects coming up will be the revised travel ban. They've taken out certain steps. They've taken out Iraq, for example. Is it more acceptable to you now that they've gone through some of these revisions?

BLINKEN: It's still effectively what it was. It's still effectively a Muslim ban, and it won't make us any safer. It will make us less security. It still covers countries that are 96 percent Muslim in their population, and it's aiming at the wrong target. The threat is not coming from refugees. It's not coming from people coming from these countries. It's a home-grown threat. And that's what we need to deal with. This will make it worse.

[13:35:00] BLITZER: Here's one of the arguments they're making over at the White House, legal arguments, and they're referring to your administration, the Obama administration, what you did, and they're citing a December 2015 piece of legislation -- a law that the president signed, or maybe an executive order, I'm not exactly sure. It placed limited restrictions on individuals coming from these countries, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, on or after March 1, 2011. They're saying the idea to have restrictions, limited restrictions from some Muslim-majority countries is really an Obama idea, not their idea.

BLINKEN: No. All that did was to cut off a loophole that existed.

BLITZER: Was that an executive order or a law?

BLINKEN: No, it was a law. And it was the process of negotiation with Congress and the administration, but it cut off a loophole. If you had a passport from a country that we allowed to come in without a visa, say the United Kingdom or France, but you also had a passport from one of these countries, you could get in without a visa. We -- this law cut that off.

BLITZER: But Muslim-majority countries only.

BLINKEN: Yes.

BLITZER: And they're arguing, you know what, there are other problems in vetting right now in Somalia, Yemen, Syria, some of the other countries that are included in the list of six right now. They say they got that idea from the Obama administration.

BLINKEN: Well, they're putting the focus on the wrong problem and making the real problem worse. It's the wrong problem because not a single American has been killed by a refugee or by anyone from any of these now six countries. At the same time --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Why did you have that list of four that you included in that law?

BLINKEN: Again, this was something that Congress did. It did it in response to a home-grown terrorist attack, and we had to negotiate it.

BLITZER: We're going to continue this, Tony.

In the meantime, let's go to Sean Spicer.

[13:36:40] SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Hey, guys.

I brought a guest.

Good afternoon. First off at the top, I want to acknowledge that there's been an additional wave of threats to Jewish community centers, and Anti-Defamation League offices. According to some reports, there have been over 100 bomb threats phoned into Jewish institutions since the start of his year alone.

As the president said at the beginning of his joint address, quote, "We're a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its forms. We denounce these latest anti-Semitic and hateful threats in the strongest terms."

It is incredibly saddening that I have to continue to share these disturbing reports with you, and I share the president's thoughts that he fervently hopes that we don't continue to have to share these reports with you. But as long as they will -- as long as they do continue, we will continue to condemn them and look at ways in which we can stop them.

Now, on to news of the day. You saw President Trump yesterday continue to deliver on two of his most significant campaign promises: protecting the country against radical Islamic terrorism, and repealing and replacing Obamacare with a patient-centric alternative.

We talked a lot about the executive order protecting the nation from foreign terrorists entering the United States yesterday. And so on to Obamacare. I'd like to introduce the secretary of health and human services, Dr. Tom Price, to come up and talk to you a little bit about the plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Dr. Price?

DR. TOM PRICE, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Thanks, Sean.

Good afternoon. First, let me just share with you what an honor it is to serve as the secretary of health and human services. I'm the third physician out of 23 individuals who have had the privilege of serving as the secretary of health and human services.

And the mission at our department is to improve the health and safety and wellbeing of the American people, and we take that mission very, very seriously.

And for many Americans right now, their ability to gain health care or health coverage is a real challenge. For most Americans, they receive their health coverage through their employer. It's about 175 million folks. Those individuals will see no significant change other than there won't be a penalty for not purchasing coverage.

For the folks in the Medicare system, there will be no changes at all in the current -- in the current law. But we're talking about those people in the individual and small group market, the moms and pops, the folks who run the corner grocery store or the corner cleaners. Those individuals out there are having huge challenges gaining care and gaining coverage. And then Medicaid is a program that by and large has decreased the ability for folks to gain access to care, and we want to make certain that we address that.

This is about patients. This is not about money. This is not about something else. This is about patients. And sadly, the costs are going up for those folks in the individual and small group market. The access is doing down. And it's only getting worse.

You know the stories. Premiums increased 25 percent over the last year on average. Arizona had an increase of 116 percent. Deductibles are going up for many, many folks. If you're a mom or a dad out there, and you make $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, your deductible is this market, in that individual and small group market, oftentimes is $8,000, $10,000, $12,000 a year.

What that means is that you've got an insurance card, but you don't get care because you can't afford the deductible.

[13:40:00] And we know that this is happening by talking to the folks who are out there trying to provide the care.

A third of the counties in the United States -- one-third of the counties in the United States have only one insurer offering coverage on the exchange. Five states only have one insurer offering coverage on the exchange.

One insurer is not a choice, so we need to make certain that we correct that.

In Tennessee this morning it was announced that there are a number of counties that have no insurer offering coverage on the exchange.

Insurers are leaving the market on the exchange. Last year there were 232 insurers that were providing coverage -- that were offering coverage on the exchange. Now there are 167. That's a loss of about 30 percent in one year alone.

And all of this means that patients are not getting the care that they need.

Now, the principles that we have as our -- as our guiding star are affordability: We want a system that's affordable for everybody; accessibility: We need a system that's accessible for everybody; a system that's of the highest quality; a system that incentivizes innovation in the health care system; and a system that empowers patients through both transparency and accountability.

The president spoke last week, last Tuesday, to a joint session of Congress and he laid out his -- his principles.

First, he wanted to make certain that those with preexisting illness and injury were not priced out of the market. Nobody ought to lose their coverage because they get a bad diagnosis.

In terms of affordability, health savings accounts -- growing choices for patients is incredibly important. Tax credits that allow individuals to be able to purchase the kind of coverage that they want, not that the government forces them to buy.

We've always talked about, in terms of what kinds of reforms need to be put in place, that we need to equalize the tax treatment for the purchase of coverage.

Those, again, in the employer-sponsored market, they get a tax benefit for buying health coverage. Those folks that are out there in the individual and small group market, no tax benefit. And that's what this plan would do.

State flexibility. It's incredibly important that we allow the states to be the ones that are defining what health coverage is -- have the flexibility, especially in the Medicaid program, to be able to respond to their vulnerable population.

Lawsuit abuse the president mentioned, and it's incredibly important. The practice of defensive medicine wastes billions and billions of dollars every single year, and we need to make certain that we're addressing that as well.

President also talked about a glide path, an appropriate transition to this new -- new phase for health care for our country, and that's important as well so that nobody falls through the cracks. Buying across state lines -- buying insurance across state lines, the president talked about this on the campaign over and over. American people understand the common-sense nature of purchasing across state lines and it increases competition. And we need to make certain that that happens.

And then addressing the incredible increase in drug prices.

There are three phases of this plan.

One is the bill that was introduced last evening in the House of Representatives. That's the start of all of this.

Second are all the regulatory modifications and changes that can be put into place. As you all well know, the previous administration used regulations to a fare-thee-well. In fact, there were 192 specific rules that were put out as they relate to Obamacare, over 5,000 letters of guidance and the like.

And we are going to go through every single one of those and make certain that they -- if they help patients, then we need to continue them. If they harm patients or -- or increase costs, then obviously they need to be addressed.

And then there's other legislation that will need to be addressed that can't be done through the reconciliation process.

So, the goal of all of this is patient-centered health care, where patients and families and doctors are making medical decisions and not the federal government.

We look -- we commend the House for the introduction of the bill yesterday and we look forward to working with all individuals in this process.

And I look forward to a few questions.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: You're familiar from your time in the House with the clout that conservative groups like the Club for Growth and Heritage Action have with rank-and-file members. What does it say about this legislation that these groups are already out with opposition to it?

PRICE: Well, I think that this is the beginning of the process and -- and we look forward to working with them and others to make certain that, again, we come up with that process that aligns with the principles that we've defined, that they actually adhere to or agree with as well. And that is that we need a system that's affordable for folks, a system that's accessible for individuals, that's of the highest quality, that incentivizes innovation, and that empowers patients.

And so, we look forward to working with them through this process.

QUESTION: Secretary Price, Congressman Chaffetz said today that Americans (inaudible) forego a new iPhone to pay for health care and they'll have to, kind of, make these choices.

Does the administration agree with that? Will Americans under this plan -- will they need to maybe sacrifice other goods to pay for their health care?

PRICE: This is an important question, because what's happening right now is that the American people are having to sacrifice in order to purchase coverage. And as I mentioned, many individuals can't afford the kind of coverage that they have right now. So they've got that insurance card but they don't have care.

[13:45:00] What our desire is is to drive down the health care costs for everybody.

PRICE: And the way that you do that is to increase choices for folks, increase competition, return the regulation of health care where it ought to be which is at the state level, not at the federal level. All of these things that -- that taken in their aggregate will, in fact, decrease the cost of health -- health care and health coverage, and that will allow folks to be able to purchase the coverage that they want.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Secretary Price, I have two questions for you.

First has to do with the guarantees that you can make as the administration's point person on this legislation. Can you guarantee that whatever legislation emerges and makes it to the president's desk will allow individuals, if they like their doctor, they can keep their doctor?

And the second guarantee is, can you also guarantee that health care premiums for individuals will come down with this new legislation?

PRICE: Again, a remarkably important question, because, as you'll recall, the promise from the last administration was, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor; if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Both of those promises turned out to be not true.

We think it's incredibly important for the American people to be able to select the physician and the place where they're treated in -- themselves; that -- that the government ought not be involved in -- in that process. And so, our goal is to -- absolutely to make certain that individuals have the opportunity to select their physician.

In terms of -- of premiums, we -- we believe strongly that through this whole process and as it takes effect, that we'll see a decrease in not only the -- the premiums that individuals will see, but a decrease in the cost of health care for folks.

Remember that -- that -- that was another promise that the previous administration made, that you'd see a decrease in $2,500 on average for families across this land. In fact, what they've seen is an increase of $2,500 or $3,000.

So we're gonna go in the other direction. We're gonna go in a direction that empowers patients and holds down costs.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you -- you are quite a distance away from conservatives with this plan (inaudible) the central part of it, which is tax credits, which they see as yet another entitlement, very similar to the entitlement of Obamacare though different in form.

How do you convince them, since it's going to take tax credits to make this work, that they need to swallow this and -- and move forward with the bill? I mean, you'll getting an awful lot of opposition on the central tenet of this whole thing.

PRICE: This is all about patients. And in order to provide that transition, and in order to make it so that nobody falls through the cracks, we've got to have a system that allows for individuals to gain the kind of coverage that -- that they want.

And we, conservatives and -- and -- and others, have said for a long, long time that we believe it's important to equalize the tax treatment for those purchasing coverage, gaining coverage through their employer, and those not. And the tax credit is the opportunity to be able to equalize that tax treatment.

Folks have talked about this for -- for -- for many years, actually, so that there's not a distortion in the tax code for who's able to gain a -- a benefit for being able to purchase coverage and not.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you were talking about making sure people don't fall through the cracks. The last administration with Obamacare focused in on making sure the underserved were part of the equation.

What is the safety net or the safeguard that you have to make sure -- to ensure people don't fall through the cracks beyond the tax incentives, but also for the underserved who are now part of -- many are now part of the program that weren't before, prior to Obamacare?

PRICE: Yes. This is -- this is extremely important as well.

And it's -- and -- and the -- the current system, as you likely know, for those vulnerable in our population, especially in the Medicaid population, this is a system that's broken. You've got a third of the physicians in this country, one-third of the doctors in this country that would be eligible to see Medicaid patients who aren't seeing Medicaid patients right now. And it's not because they've forgotten how to take care of patients, it's because of the rules that are in place that make it too onerous or too difficult for them to see Medicaid patients.

So we believe that it's important to allow states to have that flexibility to fashion the program for their vulnerable population, that actually responds to that population in a way that gives them the authority, them the choices, them the opportunity to gain coverage and the care that they believe most appropriate.

QUESTION: What if you find out that that is not happening when you give it to the states? Is there some type of punishment or some type of piece that you're going to put in place to make sure that that happens, that they follow through on your intent?

PRICE: Yes. Absolutely.

There's accountability throughout the -- the plan that we have that would allow for the secretary and the department to be certain that the individuals that we believe need to be cared for are being cared for in the state at the appropriate -- at the appropriate level.

But we believe this is a partnership. This is about patients and partnership. The previous administration tended (inaudible). We believe it's about patients and partnership. And we want to partner with every single person in this land who wants to make certain that we allow the kind of choices and quality to exist.

Yes?

QUESTION: The president tweeted earlier today. He described this bill as "our wonderful new health care bill."

There's been a little bit of confusion. Does this represent the administration's bill? And is there anything in this bill that the administration cannot support?

[13:50:00]

PRICE: This has been a -- a work in progress. As you know, this has been going on for over -- over a year. The work that I had the privilege of participating in when I served in the House of Representatives in the last Congress was -- was open and -- and transparent and we -- we invited folks in to give their ideas and tens, if not hundreds, of people had input into that process.

This grew out of that. And over the past number of weeks we've been having conversation with -- with folks on the Hill, in the House and in the Senate, and other stakeholders.

And so, this is a work product that is a result of all of that -- all of that process.

The president and -- and the administration support this step in the right -- what we believe is in the right direction, a step that repeals Obamacare and gets us moving in the direction of those principles that I outlined.

QUESTION: Do you support everything that's in that bill that's sitting on the table, sir? Do you support everything that's in that bill sitting on the table, sir?

PRICE: This is a work in progress and we work -- will work with the House and the Senate in this process. As you know, it's a legislative process that occurs.

I'm glad you pointed out the -- the -- the bills on the table there.

(LAUGHTER) As you'll see, this bill right here was the bill that was -- was introduced in 2009 and '10 by the previous administration. Notice how thick that is. Some of you will recall that I actually turned the pages and went through that piece of legislation in a YouTube.

The bill -- the pile on the right is the current bill.

And what it -- what it means is that we're -- we are making certain that the process -- that the decisions that are going to be made, are not going to be made by the federal government. They're going to be made by patients and families and doctors.

One last... QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, given the opposition that John (ph) and others have brought up here today, does this plan already need to be salvaged in your view? And how do you do it?

PRICE: Oh, no. You know what -- what happens with these things. You start to -- you start at a starting point, people engage and they get involved in the process, sometimes to a greater degree. Nothing focuses the mind like a bill that's currently on the table and that has -- is a work in progress -- or in process. And -- and we'll work through it.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

PRICE: This -- is -- this is -- this is an important process to be had.

The American people have said to their elected leaders that the Obamacare process for them gaining coverage and care is not working. That's what they've said.

And so we believe it's important to respond to the American people and provide a health care system that allows for them to purchase the kind of coverage and care that they desire.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: You said in your letter to the House chairmen that "necessary technical and appropriate changes might need to be made to this bill to reach the president's desk." So what specific changes is the White House and the administration looking for in this bill?

PRICE: Well, as I mentioned, there are three different phases to this process.

One is this bill, this legislation that's working through. Under the rules of reconciliation -- which is a fancy term to mean that it -- that it -- there are only certain things that you can do from a budgetary standpoint; has to affect either spending or revenue -- there are things that you can't do in this bill. And those we plan on doing in -- across the horizon in phase two, which is the regulatory portion.

And then in phase three, which is another piece of legislation that would be going through the House and the Senate with a majority -- super-majority in the Senate.

That process will incorporate all of the kinds of things that we believe are absolutely necessary to reconstitute that individual and small group market, and to get us in a position again where patients and families and docs are making these decisions.

QUESTION: Bearing in mind that the CBO scores the idea (ph), can you guarantee that this plan will not have a markedly negative impact on (inaudible) or result in millions of American's losing health insurance? PRICE: What I can say is that the goal and the desire that I know of the individuals on the Hill is to make certain that this does not increase the cost to the federal government.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, two elements of the bill -- I had questions about how they control costs and how they (inaudible) access to Medicaid per capita block grants to the state. How is that, sort of, fundamentally different from the Obamacare regime on Medicaid in terms of expanding access?

And then the second point, why doesn't this bill do away with the cost-sharing community rating regime that Obamacare had?

PRICE: To the per capita cap, Medicaid, again, is a -- is a system that doesn't work for patients. You've got folks out there who need care, who need to see particular physicians who aren't able to see them.

All Americans should be saddened by the situation that -- that we have when there are patients out there that can't get the care that they need.

We believe one of the keys to providing appropriate care in the Medicaid population is -- is allowing the states to have the flexibility to address that Medicaid population.

Remember Medicaid population is four -- four different demographic groups. It's those who are disabled, it's those who are seniors, it's healthy moms, and kids, by in large. Those are the four main demographic groups.

PRICE: And we, the federal government, force states mostly to take care of those individuals in exactly the same way. If you described that to the folks back home on Main Street, they say that doesn't make any sense at all. You need a program that's different for the healthy moms and kids to respond to their needs, that's different than folks who are disabled and seniors.

And so what we believe is appropriate is to say to the states, "You know your population best; you know best how to care for your vulnerable population; we're going to watch you and make certain that you do so, but you know how to do that." And that will decrease costs markedly in the Medicaid program. We're wasting significant amounts of money. Not that folks are getting too much care. We're wasting it because it's inefficient and there's significant abuse in the system.

So, in terms of the cost-sharing, I think that the cost-sharing measures are being addressed. It's important that we run through that process. This is the process where we felt the previous administration was spending money that they didn't have the authority to spend. And Congress is working through that to make certain that the rightful holders of the authority to spend money in this nation, which is the -- is the Congress of the United States -- exercise that authority.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, how does the White House and you feel about the label "Trump care"?

PRICE: Oh, I'll let others provide a description for it. I prefer to call it patient care. This is about -- this is about patients, at the end of the day. This isn't about politicians. This isn't about insurance companies. This is about patients. And patients in this nation, especially those in the individual and small group market, these are the folks.

I had the privilege of going to Cincinnati last week with the vice president to a small business roundtable. And one of the business owners, one of the small business owners there said he had 18 employees last year at this time. This year, he has 15 employees, not because he doesn't have the work, but because of the cost of health coverage for those individuals forced him -- forced him to let three people go.

Now, they're being forced to let three people go because the federal government has put in place rules and regulations that make it virtually impossible for folks in the individual and small group market to provide coverage for their employees. This is a system that's not working for people.

So, if you -- if we focus on the patients -- I'll call it patient care -- if you focus on the patients, we'll get to the right answer.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: A major complaint of -- sorry -- a major complaint of conservatives with phase one of the Obamacare repeal and replace is that it's missing a measure that would allow health care to be sold across state lines. Now, the president said this morning that that would be in either phase two or phase three.

Is that something that you believe the president could do through executive action and then you yourself could do? Or is that something that you believe has to be addressed legislatively?

PRICE: There are different aspects to the purchase across state lines that will allow individuals to gain, again, the kind of choices that they want. Some of this might be able to be done from a regulatory or rules standpoint. Some of it will require legislation. And that's where -- where we're going to need the assistance of our friends on the other side of the aisle.

The American people have demanded that they be able to purchase coverage across state lines, purchase coverage that they want for themselves. So whether it's through association health plans, which allows individuals who are in small business groups, like the fellow that I just mentioned, to pool together nationally to be able to purchase coverage, or whether it's a mom and dad who don't gain coverage through their employer through something called individual health pools that allows folks to pool together solely for the purpose of purchasing coverage, even though they're not otherwise economically aligned.

That -- that allows people -- there are 18 million folks in that individual and small group market. That would allow those individuals to be able to purchase coverage and get the purchasing power of millions. That's huge power and authority that we want to put in the hands of people, that we want to put in the hands of patients. And some of that may in fact require legislation.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you.

Two questions, but first, Congressman John Faso of New York has said that the issue of denying federal funds to Planned Parenthood should be separate from whatever health care bill finally emerges from Congress and is signed into law by the president. Is that the administration's position as well?

And my second question is this. You mentioned earlier the people who had their health care plans canceled when they thought they could keep it. I believe in your state of Georgia, more than a million people had that experience. Will some of the plans that were canceled be able to come back under the new health care plan?

PRICE: Yes, in terms of -- of Planned Parenthood, we think it's important that the legislature work its will on this process. It's incredibly important that we not violate anybody's conscience. We want to protect the conscience provisions that exist.

PRICE: It's also important to appreciate that through community health centers, the bill that's being proposed right now would allow greater access for women to health care in greater numbers of facilities across this -- this land. And they've actually proposed more money for -- for women's health care than currently exists.

[14:00:55]