By Deirdre Fulton / Common Dreams

CNN host Jake Tapper, left, with Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., on Monday. (Screen shot via YouTube)

As House Republicans scramble to amass support for the latest incarnation of their cruel repeal-and-replace legislation, one GOP representative laid bare the heartless way in which conservatives see the debate over pre-existing conditions and affordable coverage.

The Republican healthcare bill, also known as Trumpcare, “will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher healthcare costs to contribute more to the insurance pool that helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy,” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday.

“And right now, those are the people who have done things the right way that are seeing their costs skyrocketing,” Brooks said.

Watch below:

The callous remark drew powerful responses online, including from one of Brooks’ constituents and former legal clients:

Some juxtaposed Brooks’ comments with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel’s emotional defense of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, delivered Monday night, in which he revealed his infant son’s rare heart defect and decried the idea that anyone should be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.

Others drew Brooks’ attention to their own health dilemmas as a way to highlight the congressman’s insensitivity.

Meanwhile, the resistance movement is urging supporters to help stop TrumpCare—which, in its latest version, would allow insurers to dramatically increase costs for people with pre-existing conditions—”once and for all.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) indicated Tuesday that the GOP does not have the votes to pass TrumpCare 3.0 after multiple moderate Republicans came out against the bill on Monday.

Ryan can only afford to lose 22 GOP votes from the Republican side and still pass the bill—and several whip counts, including those from The Hill and CNN, show 21 Republicans opposed.

In turn, the pressure’s on potential Republican defectors:

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#affordable care act#alabama#congress#gop#health care#jake tapper#mo brooks#national#obamacare#politics#republican party#usa#video