In an interview with The Washington Post this weekend, President-elect Donald Trump said that he and his team were finalizing a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“It’s very much formulated down to the final strokes,” Trump said. “We haven’t put it in quite yet but we’re going to be doing it soon.”
Trump told the editors of the paper that details of the replacement would be revealed once the Senate had confirmed Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services. But he promised that it would make current Obamacare customers happy.
“We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” Trump said. “There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”
The president-elect said that Americans covered under the Affordable Care Act could “expect to have great health care” under his plan. “It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.”
“It’s not going to be their plan,” he said, referring to those with a health insurance package from the Obamacare marketplace. “It’ll be another plan. But they’ll be beautifully covered. I don’t want single-payer. What I do want is to be able to take care of people.”
In addition to pleasing Americans who have come to rely on Obamacare for health insurance, Trump said he was confident in his ability to get the legislation through Congress.
“I think we will get approval. I won’t tell you how, but we will get approval,” he said. “You see what’s happened in the House in recent weeks.”
Trump said that it was up to Republicans in the House and Senate, however, to stand resolutely behind his agenda.
“The Congress can’t get cold feet because the people will not let that happen,” Trump said.
Oh, but the Congress excels at getting cold feet, Mr. President.
Trump knows that he will have to watch his own party like a hawk for the next four years…especially for his first 100 days in office. Democrats will be gunning for him with everything they have, but it will be the Republicans that Trump must be wary of. His agenda does not always dovetail with theirs. Choppy political waters lie ahead – and not just when it comes to healthcare.
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