‘STILL Just Concepts?’ Trump Stuns NBC’s Kristen Welker When She Asks For His Healthcare Plan
President-elect Donald Trump stunned NBC News anchor Kristen Welker when he told her he has “concepts of a plan” for healthcare — months after that phrase became a punchline from his disastrous debate performance.
Trump and VP Kamala Harris met on the debate stage in September, which generated many memorable moments. — one of which was Trump’s response when moderators asked about his healthcare plan.
Asked “Yes or no, you still do not have a plan?” Trump replied, “I have concepts of a plan.”
Trump sat for an exclusive interview that aired on Sunday morning’s edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, during which Welker pushed Trump for healthcare details — and got more “concepts”:
KRISTEN WELKER: Sir, you said during the campaign you had concepts of a plan. Do you have an actual plan at this point for health care?
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Yes. We have concepts of a plan that would be better. But —
KRISTEN WELKER: Still just concepts? Do you have a fully developed plan?
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Let me explain. We have the biggest health care companies looking at it. We have doctors who are always looking. Because Obamacare stinks. It’s lousy. There are better answers. If we come up with a better answer, I would present that answer to Democrats and to everybody else and I’d do something about it. But until we have that or until they can approve it — but we’re not going to go through the big deal. I am the one that saved Obamacare, I will say. And I did the right thing. I could’ve done the more political thing and killed it. And all I had to do is starve it to death.
KRISTEN WELKER: You did try to have your Justice Department effectively kill it, though, sir.
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: No, no. Kill it from a legal standpoint. But from a physical standpoint, I made it work.
KRISTEN WELKER: In — in your concepts of a plan, sir, will people with preexisting conditions still have coverage? And can you guarantee their prices will not go up?
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: The answer is yes, they’ll have coverage. You have to have it —
KRISTEN WELKER: And what about their prices —
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: — because you know what, it’s —
KRISTEN WELKER: What about their prices, sir?
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: I want the prices to go down. I want to have better healthcare for less money, and there are ways of doing it, I believe. And I have the — I have the smartest people in that world. You know that’s a separate world unto itself. I have the smartest people in that world looking at it and trying. And if they come up with something, I will present it. Now, maybe you won’t be able to sell it. But if — if we get better healthcare for less money, I believe it’s very salable.
KRISTEN WELKER: Just very quickly, when will we see your fully developed plan? When are you going to —
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I don’t know —
KRISTEN WELKER: — show the public that?
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: — that you’ll see it at all. I can only say that we have some of the best healthcare people. I’ve always tinkered with it. I think — it’s a little hard to explain. Obamacare, when I took it over, was a disaster. And I made it workable.
KRISTEN WELKER: It has insured 20 million people.
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, because of me. Because of me. If you look at what I did, I was the one —
KRISTEN WELKER: But you tried to —
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: I made it good — yeah legally —
KRISTEN WELKER: You tried to repeal and replace. You tried to kill it, sir.
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: Because if I repealed it and replaced it, we would’ve had a better system because we wouldn’t have had healthcare. And the Democrats would’ve been forced to do something. If we wouldn’t have had it, the Democrats would’ve been forced to do something that they wouldn’t do if we have it.
Watch above via NBC’s Meet the Press.
