WASHINGTON _ The White House said Sunday it's now up to the Senate to address any problems with the health care bill passed by the House last week.
President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said on "Fox News Sunday that he is "excited where we're at" on health care, adding that by pushing the bill through the House last week, "the president achieved something that no one thought he would."
Priebus said the ball was now in the court of the Senate, which is considered unlikely to pass the bill in its present form.
House Democrats have predicted that the Republican bill would hurt millions of Americans by depriving them of health insurance and seriously damage the GOP's chances in 2018 midterm elections.
Some Republican lawmakers already have faced hostile receptions from constituents worried that the bill could cause thousands of unnecessary deaths and leave those who already are sick vulnerable to huge premium increases.
Priebus played down those concerns.
"We ... believe it is up to the Senate _ if there are improvements to be made _ to make those improvements," Priebus said, echoing sentiments expressed by Trump in a Twitter post shortly before the interview aired.
Trump said last week after House passage of the controversial measure that "it could be, maybe, even a little better" in a Senate version. "It's a very good bill right now."
House Speaker Paul Ryan, on ABC's "This Week," called the replacement of the Affordable Care Act a "rescue mission."
Ryan addressed one of the Republican bill's most controversial provisions, allowing states not to require requiring insurers to sell plans to people who already are sick, declaring that "no matter what, you cannot be denied coverage if you have a pre-existing (health) condition."
Ryan pointed to the addition of $8 billion meant to shield those with pre-existing conditions. Health care experts have said that pool of money represents only a fraction of what would be needed if states are allowed to loosen existing restrictions on how high the premiums for people who already are sick could go.
Ryan said that those most affected by rising premiums would be those who had deliberately let their coverage lapse.
"It's kind of like waiting until your house is on fire to then buy your homeowners insurance. You want to make sure that people stay covered to keep the cost down," he said.
Opponents of the bill say many of those who will allow their coverage to lapse, including the sickest Americans, would have done so because they were priced out of purchasing a health plan.
