Ryan: ‘Can’t answer’ how many will lose health coverage under GOP plan

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the number of people who will lose insurance under the GOP’s proposed healthcare plan will depend on the choices of individuals.

“I can’t answer that question,” Ryan told CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” when asked how many people will lose healthcare coverage. “It’s up to people.”

“Here’s the premise of your question: Are you going to stop mandating people buy health insurance? People are going to do what they want to do with their lives because we believe in individual freedom in this country.”

{mosads}The GOP last week unveiled two measures to repeal and replace ObamaCare. While the new plan would get rid of some components of ObamaCare, it would keep other parts in place.

Ryan has been on a full-court media blitz to make the public sales pitch since the House GOP legislation was unveiled.

The GOP proposal would create a tax credit system to incentivize individuals to purchase health insurance. It would dismantle ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion program, while eliminating the individual mandate that required people to purchase health insurance or pay a fine. Instead, should the new plan pass in its current iteration, insurance providers could charge a 30 percent penalty for gaps in coverage.

Democrats have panned the GOP’s plan, and conservative critics, such as the influential advocacy groups FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth, have taken to calling it “RyanCare.” And Breitbart News, which frequently had Ryan in its crosshairs over the years, called it “Speaker Ryan’s ObamaCare 2.0.”

But Ryan promoted the plan Sunday, echoing on “Face the Nation” the GOP’s stance that there will be “a smooth transition” during the repeal and replace process.

“… The point we’re trying to make here is there will be a smooth transition, a stable transition so that people who are covered today don’t have the rug pulled out from under them,” he said.