Unable to fulfill one of his central campaign promises - a repeal of the Obama health law - President Trump is again talking about releasing a plan to replace the current system which forces Americans to buy health insurance coverage, as the President continues to dangle the possibility of setting out a new health care package.
In an interview with ABC News broadcast in recent days, the President said that he would unveil a new plan in the next month or two.
"And we already have the concept of the plan, but it'll be less expensive than Obamacare by a lot. And it'll be much better health care," Mr. Trump said, adding that "we'll be announcing that in about two months."
"Obamacare has been a disaster," the President said, again bemoaning the last second change by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) which defeated a bare bones effort to pass any kind of GOP health care plan in the U.S. Senate in July of 2017.
The sudden talk about unveiling a new plan caught Capitol Hill Republicans by surprise - just as the President had surprised the GOP by saying earlier this year that he wanted the GOP to act on health care reform.
"The Republican Party will become the party of Health Care," Mr. Trump tweeted back in March.
But after a few days, the President backed off, and said he would not try to press for major changes in the Obama health law until after the 2020 elections - and only if Republicans take back control of both houses of Congress.
"It will be truly great HealthCare that will work for America," the President tweeted back in early April.
At the time, there seemed to be little appetite on Capitol Hill for tackling the issue again, as the GOP is all for doing something different on health care - but does not have an agreement on what that 'something' should be, in terms of the fine print.
Democrats were skeptical that anything has changed.
"Someone tell the President that ripping health care away from 20 million Americans isn’t called a “plan,” it’s called a catastrophe," said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA).
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