President Trump issued strong support of the House Republican Obamacare replacement bill on Tuesday after the healthcare plan was met with skepticism from conservatives.
“We’re going to do something that’s great. And I am proud to support the replacement plan released by the House of Representatives,” Trump said before a meeting with the House deputy whip team, which holds responsibility for shepherding the bill through a divided House. “It follows the guidelines I laid out in my congressional address. … This will be a plan where you can choose your doctor and this will be a plan where you can choose your plan. And you know what the plan is. This is the plan.”
The administration on Tuesday laid out three phases for repealing and replacing Obamacare: passing the American Health Care Act, “regulatory modifications” and additional legislation passed outside of the budget reconciliation process that Republicans will use to scrap some parts of the Affordable Care Act.
“Obamacare is collapsing,” Trump said in the whip meeting. “It’s in bad shape, and we’re going to take action. There’s going to be no slowing down, there’s going to be no waiting and no more excuses by anybody.”
“It’s a complicated process but actually it’s very simple. It’s called good healthcare,” Trump added.
Conservative Republicans in the House and Senate have expressed disappointment with the bill put forward by GOP leadership, arguing it leaves too much of Obamacare’s regulatory structure in place.
Trump said Tuesday that he would press Republicans to pass a “big tax cut” after completing Obamacare reform.
“I really look forward to working on that,” Trump said, but added that “unfortunately,” Republicans can’t tackle tax reform until passing an Obamacare replacement.
