A day after telling GOP Senators to get cracking on plans to repeal and replace the Obama health law, President Donald Trump doubled down on those sentiments in remarks to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, labeling the current health system a 'disaster,' and vowing that Republicans would come up with a plan to replace if the courts declare the current system unconstitutional.
"If the Supreme Court rules that Obamacare is out, we will have a plan that is far better," President Trump said, reinforcing his Tuesday call for action on health care, a move that left GOP lawmakers and strategists stunned.
"We've made it better," Mr. Trump said of changes and tweaks made by his administration in the underlying Obamacare system. "But it's still horrible, no good."
The President repeated a line that he used during a Tuesday visit to the Capitol, in which he vowed that the Republican Party would be 'the party of health care.'
While the President was pushing Republicans to take another crack at major changes in the Obama health law, the reality in Congress is that while GOP lawmakers have all sorts of ideas on what should be altered, there is no comprehensive Republican health care bill sitting on the shelf, waiting to be voted on in either the House or Senate.
And the immediate reaction from GOP lawmakers and Republican political strategists was also clear - they aren't on the same page as the President - worried that a new fight over health care would not be a winning issue for Republicans as the 2020 elections approach.
As with previous efforts to repeal and replace the Obama health law, President Trump is on the record supporting it - but has offered little in the way of concrete proposals to flesh out the details of what should be in the plan.
When Republicans controlled both the House and Senate in 2017, they were able to narrowly approve a package of changes in the House - Mr. Trump later criticized the details - and then watched as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) deep-sixed a bare bones 'skinny' repeal plan, dooming GOP efforts which had struggled to forge any kind of long term policy consensus.
"The President is on record with a plan to replace the ACA," said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation. "However, the usual caveats apply: It lacks specifics," as Levitt and others said it was unlikely that Republicans could get something through the Senate before the 2020 elections.
Earlier this week, the Justice Department told a federal judge in Texas that it would not oppose a ruling which invalidated the entire Obama health law, again raising the possibility that major change could come from the Judicial Branch, and not in the Congress.
"You watch - we're going to be the party of great health care," Mr. Trump said Wednesday.
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