Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) refused to back down from a tweet that earned four Pinocchios from the Washington Post fact checker during a Thursday interview with Jake Tapper.
The tweet, which has been up for a week, claims that under the Republican health care bill, "129 million people with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage and insurers could charge sick people more money."
Once again, 129M people with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage and insurers could charge sick people more money.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 4, 2017
Tapper offered the California Democrat an opportunity to respond to the rating, which is reserved for patently false claims, given to her statement. Harris passed on the opportunity, however, and instead danced around the issue.
"Well, listen, there is a lot of information that exists about which populations are impacted by demographics, and when you break down the numbers according to which demographic, the numbers change," Harris said. "We stand by the reality that when we look at the failure to push for reform of the Affordable Care Act, and instead the push to eliminate the Affordable Care Act will result in 24 million Americans losing access to health care. For California, it's about three to five million people.
Harris then shifted her focus to the "exact statistics."
"We can quibble over the exact statistics and data depending on your source, but there is an undeniable reality that if they get rid of the Affordable Care Act, there are millions of Americans that will lose their health care. That's undeniable."