Republicans have been falling all over themselves to walk back popular vote loser Donald Trump's beautiful insurance for everybody promise. See, what he must have really meant, say Republican senators is everybody will have "access" to health insurance. Popular vote losing vice president-elect Mike Pence confirms.

The incoming vice president also sought to clarify Trump's promise of "insurance for everybody," which also has worried Republicans on Capitol Hill who fear that Trump is overpromising on health care. Pence said he believed Trump's promise of "insurance for everybody" is really about "making insurance affordable for everyone."

Note that Trump himself hasn't said what he "really" meant, which makes things a little more complicated for Republicans. They probably figure he'll just go along with whatever they say. But maybe not, when he realizes that what they're talking about when they say "access" is things like Health Savings Accounts, which people who can't afford savings accounts sure aren't going to be able to pay into, and high-risk pools. That's their answer to covering people with preexisting conditions, but it's one that's been attempted and failed miserably because they cost too much to administer, cost too much for people to purchase, and because of the cost of administration provide minimal benefit.

What Republicans are really talking about is a return to the lack of a system that we had before. Which isn't what Trump is talking about. And it sure isn't what the minority that voted for Trump and a Republican Senate had in mind.