what is senator durbin doing? what are any of the democrats doing to improve healthcare in our country? how can he deny that millions of americans have opted out of obamacare, have preferred to fork over their hard earned money in taxes and penalties rather than be part of this system? how can he deny that 83 insurers have left the market with dozens more promising to do so? how can he deny that this is unaffordable, unsustainable process? look, this is to improve healthcare, make it more free market, more patient centric. to give people choice. obamacare has robbed people of choices. five states 1/3 of our counties in this country have one provider that s not a choice and also the premiums exploded, look, the premiums exploded by more than 100 percent. premiums supposed to come down and more than doubled in places. i want to say also that the cbo projected 23 to 24 million people would be on obamacare there are 10 million. none of this has panned out.
will be plenty of time to debate in the senate. you said last week i m not going to get ahead of i ll let senator mcconnell determine the schedule he sees fit. let s not mistake ourselves with how they approach this thing. their leader made it clear, on at least two separate occasions, they didn t want to be part 6 this process, they didn t want to repeal and replace obama care. we believe obama care is failing, we want a better system for the american people, a patient centric health care system that brings down costs and gives more accessibility to people. that s it. they chose not to engage in this process. to turn around now and second guess that s something they should take up with their own leader. does the president support a travel ban to those heading to north korea? even senator mccain s comments that otto warmbier was murdered. i think the state department is mulling additional advisories
to tell leader mcconnell or the white house is not going to tell him how to conduct a panel. but at the same time i think that any voices that can be constructive in getting a more patient centric health care system put together would be welcome. but that s not our call to make. there s been a number of conversations in washington this week about the relationship between hr mcmaster and the president. how does president trump characterize his relationship with his national security advisor? excellent. another followp question very quickly on flynn. he s spoken from the podium before about the president asking michael flynn to resign as a result of him misleading the vice president. we ve learned a lot about michael flynn this week, and potential investigations. and we know actual investigations in to his actions before coming here not white house. was this at all considered in the president s decision to ask him to resign? i think you can only accept someone s resignation once.
on the first one there s no personnel updates with respect to the with the exception of the ones that i mentioned today. on the second, you know, donald trump is not one to be led down a path by anyone. i think he talked today at the lunch with the speaker ryan he s working hand in glove with the speaker. he talked about it last night. this is a commitment that he has to enacting health care. this is a process that he is committed to, wants to see through because of a goal that he wants to achieve, which is making more patient centric health care system that lowers the costs and increases the options. he does president get led down any paths. he leads very clearly and i think if you listen to speaker ryan today, he s in agreement that there s been a strong partnership between the house, the administration, and i think the senate so far to make sure that we get this bill done. and that s what our goal is going to be. and that s, you know so i would argue we ve actually done
engaged with. ones that the senate and house have engaged with, we ve always stated a willingness. director mulvaney talked about this, the president, the vice president. part of the reason we re engaging with these individuals is to hear their ideas. talk to them about the approach. what can go in, what can go out. how we deal with the different phases. all of that is part of a strategy to engage with members who support us, who have ideas and want to be on board and want the be constructive and achievepresident s goal of having a patient netanyahu patient centric health care system. the president will be on the phone with speaker ryan and leader mccarthy later this afternoon to talk to them about some of the ideas. that s part of the legislative process. so actually i have a separate question. just to clarify. the white house is working to help shape that? yes.