Trump pushes immediate repeal of Obamacare

WA S H I N G TO N — P r e s i - dent-elect Donald Trump p re s s e d Re p u b l i c a n s o n Tuesday to move forward with the immediate repeal o f t h e A f f o r d a b l e C a r e Act and to replace it very quickly thereafter, saying, “We have to get to business. Obamacare has been a catastrophic event.”

Trump’s position under- cuts Republican leaders who want a quick vote to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement but who also want to wait as long as two to three years to come up with an alternative. But he was also challenging the resolve of nervous Republicans in Congress who do not want any vote on a repeal until that replacement exists.

T r u m p , w h o s e e m e d unclear about the timing of already scheduled votes i n C o n g r e s s t h i s we e k , demanded a repeal vote “probably some time next week,” and said “the replace will be very quickly or simultaneously, very shortly thereafter.”

That demand is very likely impossible. Republicans in Congress are nowhere close to agreement on a major health bill that would replace the health law. For now, the Senate is planning to vote Thursday morning on a budget resolution that would set up parliamentary protections for a health care repeal bill that would have to emerge from House and Senate committees by Jan. 27. The House would vote Friday if that budget measure clears the Senate.

That plan is under pressure from Republicans who want to slow the process as they struggle for an agreement on what would follow repeal. But Trump said there was no cause for delay. And he said he would not accept a delay of more than a few weeks before a replacement plan was voted on.

“Long to me would be weeks,” he said. “It won’t be repeal and then two years later go in with another plan.”

That directly contradicts House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plans.

Ryan agreed with Trump on the state of the Affordable Care Act, saying Tuesday that its marketplaces were in a “death spiral.” But he has argued that lawmakers need time to write a bipartisan bill that would replace it.

In fact, new enrollment numbers from the Obama administration undercut that claim. Despite increasing premiums and a torrent of negative news about the future of the health law, enrollment under the act’s health care plans has continued to grow. There are now 11.5 million people who have chosen the marketplace plans for this year, nearly 300,000 more than at this time last year.