President Obama said Sunday that he’s OK with Republicans making
changes to his Affordable Care Act and even changing its name from
“ObamaCare” to “TrumpCare.”
“I’m fine with that,” the president told ABC’s “This Week.”
Obama suggested that ObamaCare will survive
Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace his signature health care
law. And he said that he would be the “first one” to laud Republicans if
they can “come up with a system that insures more people cheaper,
better.”
The president, who turns over the White House in 12
days to President-elect Donald Trump, also suggested that he has wanted
to make the kind of changes to ObamaCare that Trump and fellow
Republicans in control of Congress are seeking.
“But they wouldn't cooperate because they didn't want to make the system work,” Obama said.
With Trump as the next president and Republicans also
controlling Congress, the GOP indeed finally has its best opportunity
in roughly six years to repeal the law.
Obama’s remarks Sunday provided a glimpse into what
he might have told fellow Democrats last week on Capitol Hill in a
closed-door meeting about how to defend GOP efforts to repeal and
replace the 2010 law.
Obama also cited letters from Americans thanking him
for providing affordable, accessible health insurance, similar to what
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other congressional
Democrats have done in recent days, in an apparent attempt to win public
support to save ObamaCare.
Obama also pointed out that 20 million more Americans
have health insurance as a result of the law and argued the country’s
un-insured rate is at a record low.
“So we've got a baseline of facts,” he said.
However, under-enrollment in ObamaCare, particularly
with young and healthy participants, along with doctors and insurance
companies dropping out, has resulted in rising premium costs.
Senate Republicans on Tuesday, the first day of the 115th Congress, took the first legislative steps to repeal the law.
However, they made clear in the time between Trump’s
November win and their return that a full replacement might take years,
considering they had no alternative plan.
The situation puts them under heavy pressure from
their voters, who expect lawmakers’ “Day One” promises to end ObamaCare
be fulfilled.
Revamping the nation's $3 trillion-a-year health care
system will be further complicated by congressional Democrats vowing to
stop Republicans at essentially every step.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has
said if Republicans void Obama's bill, Democrats won't help them pass
alternative legislation.
Source: foxnews
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