A top Republican senator suggested Congress needed to move on making health care more affordable or President Donald Trump would take more drastic action.
“If we don’t get health care right, it’s going to be over,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) at an exclusive Bloomberg Government event Tuesday. “The president would easily go to a national health service, because it would work for the next three years and then somebody else would have to pick up the pieces. I think that this president will change anything.”
Cassidy, as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has fielded the president’s health agenda. The president recently called to codify his most favored nation policy, issued through executive action, which ties US drug prices to lower prices in other countries.
“The president’s team came to me to ask if my office would help write the legislation and like two days later, he endorsed my opponent,” he said. Cassidy faces Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.), in a May 15 primary election.
But the senator did not outright reject the most favored nation policy, adding that his staff has continued to “noodle on it.”
Cassidy is considering whether to back Trump’s choice to be the next surgeon general, Casey Means. In her confirmation hearing last month, Cassidy pressed her on whether she would promote vaccines as an effective public health strategy, but she deflected.
When asked whether he would support her nomination, Cassidy said Tuesday he will make an announcement later in the week.
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