Donald Trump: Obamacare To Stay If Trumpcare Doesn’t Pass, Constituents Weigh In


Donald Trump said on Thursday that Obamacare will stay in place if the new GOP health care reform bill — dubbed Trumpcare — doesn’t pass on Friday, a threat that’s leaving some of his loyal constituents rightfully disgruntled.

The Hill shared on Thursday evening that President Donald Trump warned GOP members that he’s “done negotiating” on a replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA or Obamacare, after a repeal vote failed to take place on Thursday, as scheduled.

BBC News reported on Friday morning that Thursday’s vote on the American Health Care Act, also referred to as AHCA or Trumpcare, was delayed because some Republicans still oppose the bill.

According to NBC News, as of Thursday evening, the health care bill was still eight votes short of becoming a reality. Trumpcare continues to lack support because moderates and conservatives cannot “find a deal.”

More conservative members reportedly want adult children to not have the option to stay on their parents insurance until they’re 26, as well as a ban on both the pre-existing conditions portion of Obamacare and certain insurance coverage requirements under Obamacare, such as maternity care and mental health services.

According to the White House on Thursday, insurance coverage for adult children and pre-existing conditions have to stay, but the rest of the demands made by conservative members can be met, along with additional changes, such as adding a Medicare tax on high incomes.

One Republican, Trent Franks from Arizona, said that the 31 Republicans not ready to move forward with a vote believe changes can still be made to make Donald Trump and Paul Ryan’s proposed health care reform bill better, adding that negotiations “should never stop.”

But, President Trump, along with his constituents, are getting impatient. Per CNBC and budget director Mick Mulvaney on Friday morning, Donald Trump is “tired of folks always coming up with better ideas, and nitpicking the bill as it is.”

Repealing and replacing Obamacare was one of the many campaign promises Donald Trump made during the 2016 presidential election — one of his top 10 campaign promises, and a promise that was popular among “rank-and-file Republicans,” at the time, according to Politifact.

Donald Trump’s promise to repeal and replace Obamacare was also a popular promise among his loyal followers, mainly due to the increasing cost of health insurance premiums under Obamacare, as well as the requirement to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty.

As President Trump still cannot secure enough Republican votes to pass the Trumpcare bill, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday evening that “tomorrow we are proceeding” with a vote.

“For seven and a half years, we have been promising to repeal and replace this broken law because it is collapsing and failing families.”

According to President Donald Trump, if the GOP health care bill doesn’t pass on Friday afternoon, then Congress would be “breaking their promises to their constituents to repeal and replace Obamacare.”

President Trump also said that he will move on to other things — like tax reform — and leave Obamacare in place if the GOP health care bill doesn’t pass on Friday, and Mick Mulvaney says that Donald Trump should be taken at his word “that he’s ready to let Obamacare stand,” mainly because Trump is a “businessman” and “impatient.”

“Busy would be the right way to describe this president. He doesn’t want to spend the time for the next two, four, six, eight months, whatever it would take. That’s what it would take if you let the House go about its own business.”

NPR shared on Wednesday that Trumpcare would actually hurt the low-income people who voted for Donald Trump, because low-income subsidies would be eliminated, but some Trump supporters say that Obamacare has hurt the middle-class.

One constituent, Wanda DuWitt, commented that Obamacare had no effect on the rich, helped lower-class people, and taxed middle-class people, adding that Donald Trump should not bring the health bill up for a vote on Friday if “you know you don’t have the votes to pass it yet.”

Other constituents and non-supporters of Donald Trump say that Obamacare got them affordable insurance, “something I couldn’t get before the ACA existed,” according to another comment by constituent billybud51 via an article published by the Portland Press Herald.

The AHCA was introduced in the House on March 6 as what some Donald Trump supporters called “Obamacare lite.” According to AOL, some fans of President Donald Trump already felt betrayed because some of Obamacare will still remain in place if Trumpcare is passed. Trump supporters would prefer a complete repeal and replacement of Obamacare, saying they will feel even more betrayed if President Trump lets Obamacare stay.

Trumpcare.com gives a complete rundown of how the health care bill proposed by Donald Trump stacks up against Obamacare.

[Featured Image by Editorial Pool/Getty Images]

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