Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told President Donald Trump that the Affordable Care Act will not be repealed or replaced until after the 2020 election.
Trump’s surprise at the assertion could not have outmatched Senate Republicans’ own when the POTUS surprised them with a demand for comprehensive healthcare reform with little more than a series of tweets as warning.
“Everybody agrees that ObamaCare doesn’t work,” Trump began. According to the president, the GOP is creating “a really great HealthCare Plan with far lower premiums (cost) & deductibles,” which would also be “far less expensive & much more usable” than the 2010 Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare.
Of course, Trump was clear that the vote would not be taken until “after the Election when Republicans hold the Senate & win back the House.” Trump concluded with the assertion that “the Republican Party will be known as the Party of Great HealtCare [sic].”
But on Tuesday, McConnell told reporters that he had told Trump just that. “We had a good conversation yesterday afternoon,” McConnell said, “and I pointed out to him the Senate Republicans’ view on dealing with comprehensive health care reform with a Democratic House of Representatives.”
McConnell said he “was fine with Sen. Alexander and Sen. Grassley working on prescription drug pricing and other issues” that are not part of a “comprehensive effort.”
Trump reiterated his position on Twitter this morning, saying, “I was never planning a vote prior to the 2020 Election on the wonderful HealthCare package that some very talented people are now developing for me & the Republican Party. It will be on full display during the Election as a much better & less expensive alternative to ObamaCare.”
“This will be a great campaign issue,” Trump continued. He also maintained that he had “never asked Mitch McConnell for a vote before the Election as has been incorrectly reported (as usual) in the @nytimes.”
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-SD) is a little more skeptical of their chances. “It’s going to be a really heavy lift to get anything through Congress this year given the political dynamics that we’re dealing with in the House and the Senate,” he said.
“The best-laid plans and best of intentions with regard to an overhaul of the health care system in this country run into the wall of reality that it’s going to be very hard to get a Democrat House and a Republican Senate to agree on something.”
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