GOP Congressman: People who 'lead good lives' should pay less than those with pre-existing conditions

GOP Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) on Monday argued against a health care plan that protects people with pre-existing conditions, insisting “people who lead good lives’ and “have done the things to keep their bodies healthy” should received reduced costs for healthcare.

Trump vowed to protect people with pre-existing conditions in an interview with Bloomberg News on Monday. “I want it to be good for sick people. It’s not in its final form right now," the president said. "It will be every bit as good on pre-existing conditions as Obamacare.”

Republicans’ first attempt to pass an Obamacare replacement plan failed in a dramatic fashion in March after moderate Republicans refused to support a bill that didn’t include those protections.

In an interview with Brooks, CNN’s Jake Tapper noted the new House GOP bill fails to deliver on the president’s promise.

“This new legislation would allow states to opt-out, and allow insurance companies to refuse to sell insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, as long as there’s some set-up for them,” Tapper explained in an interview with Brooks, asking if the president “did he not understand what was in the bill.”

“That’s not my understanding of the way the bill has been reframed,” Brooks said of the president’s characterization. “My understanding is that is that it will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher healthcare costs to contribute more.”

Brooks added that the new bill “[reduces] the cost to people who lead good lives, they’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy, and right now, those are the people who’ve done things the right way.”

“Pre-existing conditions” cover a wide range of medical problems, including asthma, diabetes and cancer. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could legally refuse to cover individuals on the basis of their pre-existing conditions. Companies could also opt to charge individuals more money, a system Brooks advocated returning to Monday.

Brooks noted that some people have pre-existing conditions through “no fault of their own,” adding “under those circumstances,” there should be a system in place to help those individuals out, though he failed to provide specifics on how those circumstances would be determined.

Watch the video below, via CNN: