Health care:
President Trump exhorts GOP senators to move forward on a bill to dismantle “Obamacare.”
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday made a latehour appeal to senators — targeting members of his own party — to move forward with debate over faltering Republican legislation to overhaul the Affordable Care Act.
“Any senator who votes against starting debate is telling America that you are fine with the Obamacare nightmare, which is what it is,” Trump said in an address from the White House on the eve of anticipated Senate vote that could spell defeat of the long-sought legislation.
As of Monday, GOP leaders in the Senate were still scrambling to round up enough Republican votes to move forward with debate of the bill. Late in the day, the office of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the legislator — recently diagnosed with cancer — would return to the Senate on Tuesday to work on “important legislation.” It cites specifically health care reform, the National Defense Authorization Act and new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Trump implored fellow Republicans to make good on a promise to repeal the ACA — widely known as Obamacare — that has been a staple of their rhetoric for seven years now.
“For Senate Republicans, this is their chance to keep their promise,” Trump said. “Over and over and again, they said repeal and replace, repeal and replace. But they can now keep their promise to the American people.”
The address amounted to Trump’s most robust pitch of the legislation to date. Even some in his own party have expressed frustration with what they view as a lackluster sales job.
Besides decrying the shortcomings of Obamacare, Trump touted what he described as the improvements that would come under the GOP legislation, including “far more choice and far more flexibility” in the insurance market. He said the legislation will continue to cover preexisting conditions and will devote “substantial resources” to combatting opioid addictions, despite Democrats and health care advocates arguing that it will not.
Still, about two-thirds of Trump’s statement was devoted to what he called the “big fat ugly lie” of Obamacare. Trump also chided Senate Democrats for their refusal to support the legislation.
Prior to Monday, the president had made relatively little effort to detail for the public why Republican replacement plans would improve on the former president’s signature initiative.
Trump’s public efforts to dismantle the health care law have contrasted sharply with President Obama’s efforts to build support in advance of its 2010 passage.
Obama gave a joint address to Congress, fielded questions at town hall meetings around the country and bantered with hostile lawmakers at a Republican retreat.