Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president, is reviving his push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, if he’s re-elected next year.
“The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post over the weekend.
Republicans have tried several times to repeal Obamacare and failed. They came close in 2017, but late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) voted with Democrats to keep the law in place.
“We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it,” Trump said. “It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”
More than a decade after its passage, Obamacare remains a very popular health care law. According to a KFF tracking poll, 59% of Americans approve of the law.
Trump’s post likely revives a new facet in the health care debate–other than Abortion– heading into the 2024 election, which is not good news for Republicans. After the 2017 failed vote to repeal Obamacare, the 2018 midterm elections was a blue tsunami as Democrats across the country campaigned on protecting Americans from losing coverage for preexisting conditions under Obamacare, and picked up a net gain of 40 seats.
A recent NBC News poll found that Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans on health care by a margin of 45%-22%.
President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign slammed Trump’s call to repeal Obamacare.
“40 million people – more than 1 in 10 Americans – have health insurance today because of the Affordable Care Act and Donald Trump just said he would try to rip it away if he returns to power. He was one vote away from getting it done when he was president – and we should take him at his word that he’ll try to do it again,” Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement.
“Donald Trump’s America is one where millions of people lose their health insurance and seniors and families across the country face exorbitant costs just to stay healthy. Those are the stakes next November,” he added.
A Biden adviser told NBC News that Biden allies intend to seize on Trump’s calls to repeal Obamacare and “really hit this hard.”
“No tactic is out of the question,” the adviser said. ‘It’s almost perfect that Trump would pick the one thing they haven’t really put front and center, which we know is incredibly unpopular, and say ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do this too!’”
