President Barack Obama said he believes that his signature healthcare law will survive under a Trump administration, telling ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he is skeptical Republicans will actually repeal the Affordable Care Act.
“Well, I’m skeptical that they can do it, mainly because, for seven years now, including when we first tried to pass healthcare, OK, if this doesn’t work, tell me what does,” the president explained to Stephanopoulos in a taped interview for ABC’s This Week that aired Sunday morning.
Stephanopoulos then asked the president if Obamacare would survive. “I think it will,” Obama responded without hesitation.
“It may be called something else. And as I said, I don’t mind. If in fact the Republicans make some modifications, some of which I may have been seeking previously, but they wouldn’t cooperate because they didn’t want to make the system work, and relabel it as Trumpcare, I’m fine with that,” Obama said.
At one point during the president’s “Exit” interview, Stephanopoulos reminded the president that during the 2016 presidential campaign, Obama told voters numerous times that “all of the progress we have made over the last 8 years goes out the window if we [Hillary Clinton] doesn’t win,” and asked the president if he still thought that was the case.
“No,” the President responded with a sigh, before making his case for preserving his signature health care legislation.”The gains that we’ve made are there, 20 million have health insurance that didn’t have it before, the uninsured rate is the lowest its ever been, the rise in health care coasts since the affordable care act has been past, have been at the lowest rate in 50 years,” He said.
“It is true theoretically that it can all be undone,” the president admitted, “but I think as republicans now are recognizing that that might not be what the American people, including Trump voters are looking for,” the president surmised.
“Don’t undue things just because I [Obama] did them,” the president exclaimed. House Republicans have said this week that they will complete legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare this year, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence said that President-elect Donald Trump would begin repealing Obamacare on day 1.
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