Trump vows ‘great’ plan to replace Obamacare

President Donald Trump yesterday declared that Obamacare will fall apart and vowed to develop a “great” new health care plan for Americans to take its place.
“ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE.
Do not worry!” the Republican said on Twitter.
The message came one day after the president suffered the biggest defeat yet in his short White House tenure, when his bill to repeal Obamacare died at the hands of rebel lawmakers of his own Republican party.
Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan were forced to withdraw the legislation moments before a vote, having failed to round up enough support for passage — leaving the president’s campaign pledge to dismantle his predecessor’s health care reforms unfulfilled.
The real estate mogul-turned-politician — who built his candidacy on his bona fides as a skilled negotiator — had thrown his full political weight behind the measure and helped twist the arms of recalcitrant Republicans to rally votes.
He declared himself “disappointed” and a “little surprised” by the defeat of the bill, which in addition to opposition by several factions of Republicans was totally shunned by Democrats.
“Bad things are going to happen to Obamacare.
There is not much you can do to help.
I’ve said that a year and a half.
Eventually it’s not sustainable,” Trump said after the bill was withdrawn.
But he indicated the divisive issue will remain on the White House agenda.
“I think we have to let Obamacare go its way...It’s imploding and soon will explode and it’s not going to be pretty,” he said.
“So, the Democrats don’t want to see that.
So, they’re going to reach out when they’re ready, and whenever they’re ready, we’re ready.”
After weeks of contentious negotiations over the American Health Care Act (AHCA), Republicans had to admit defeat as they could not gain sufficient support from their own side for the plan to overhaul US health insurance.
Speaking afterward in the Oval Office, Trump blamed Democrats for the failure of a bill to repeal the signature achievement of Barack Obama.
“If [Democrats] got together with us, and got us a real healthcare bill, I’d be totally OK with that. The losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, because they own Obamacare. They 100% own it,” he said.
Trump refused to bash the House speaker, Paul Ryan, but declined to answer a question about policy changes he would like to see in health reform.
Instead, he said he was ready to move on to tax reform, saying: “We’re probably going to start going very strongly on big tax cuts. Tax reform that will be next.”
He added: “We all learned a lot. We learned a lot about loyalty.”
Earlier on Friday, as it became clear that Republican resistance to the bill was hardening, Ryan went to the White House to tell Trump in person that he did not have the votes to pass the bill.
The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, had insisted the vote would go ahead at 3.30pm ET.”Has the team put everything out there,
have we left everything on the field? Absolutely,” he told reporters at his daily briefing.”But at the end of the day this isn’t a dictatorship and we’ve got to expect members to ultimately vote how they will according to what they think.”
However, Spicer’s imagined 3.30pm deadline slid by, ignored by Republicans on Capitol Hill, and the first reports emerged that Trump had asked for the vote to be pulled.
Minutes later House Republicans, short of votes, had withdrawn the health bill.
At a press conference soon afterward, Ryan admitted: “Moving from an opposition party to a governing party comes with growing pains and, well, we’re feeling those growing pains today. I will not sugarcoat this: this is a disappointing day for us.”
He said “doing big things is hard” and conceded that after almost a decade of saying no to everything in opposition, the Republicans had failed to come together and agree on something they have opposed for seven years.”We are going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Ryan said he had recommended the bill be pulled when he realised the votes were lacking.
But he praised Trump’s role in the negotiations, adding: “The president gave his all in this effort; he’s really been fantastic. Still, we’ve got to do better and we will.”
Asked how Republican members could now go back to their constituents having failed to keep their promise, Ryan replied: “That’s a really good question. I wish I had a better answer for you.”
Separately, a Washington Post reporter described a call with Trump in which he said the bill would not return any time soon.
Ryan also conceded that Republicans would now move on to other priorities — securing the border, rebuilding the military and tax reform.”Now we’re going on to move on with the rest of our agenda because we have big, ambitious plans to improve people’s lives in this country.”
Although speculation had grown on Friday afternoon that the bill would be pulled, the announcement came as a surprise to Republican members.
As it was announced, the House went to recess, with Democrats shouting in a taunting manner, “Vote, vote, vote”, daring Republicans to bring the bill up. They did not.