Official Says Trump Administration Prepared If Court Overturns Obamacare

(Bloomberg) -- A top Trump administration health official says there’s a contingency plan to preserve a key part of Obamacare if a federal judge in Texas overturns the 2010 law in a court ruling that could come any day.

“We do have contingency plans. We want to make sure people with pre-existing conditions have coverage,” said Seema Verma, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Verma, who spoke at a breakfast with reporters in Washington, declined to give details on the contingency plans.

Her agency is responsible for much of the federal oversight of Obamacare, which provides subsidized insurance coverage to millions of Americans. The law also bars health insurers from charging people more based on existing medical conditions, a particularly popular provisions that Republicans have said they’ll preserve no matter what.

A federal judge in Fort Worth could rule any day on whether Obamacare is unconstitutional. It’s likely that any decision by the judge would be stayed until a higher court can review it.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Edney in Washington at aedney@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Timothy Annett

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