November 21, 2024
Republicans have mostly abandoned efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but former President Donald Trump promises to make it one of his administration's priorities.

Former President Trump has promised to roll back the Obama-instituted Affordable Care Act (ACA) if elected president in 2024, despite numerous failed attempts to terminate it in the past.

“Obamacare is too expensive, and otherwise, not good healthcare,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. 

The Christmas post comes as Congress has long attempted to repeal the ACA, more commonly known as Obamacare, but could not succeed.  

Republicans have largely abandoned the crusade against former President Obama’s signature healthcare bill. Nonetheless, Trump vowed he would “come up with a much better, and less expensive, alternative!”

“People will be happy, not sad!” Trump wrote.

Last month, Trump wrote on Truth Social that getting better healthcare “than Obamacare for the American people will be a priority of the Trump Administration.” Obamacare was enacted in March 2010.

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Health care worker vaccine

A nurse gives a senior adult healthcare worker the COVID-19 vaccine. (iStock)

“It is not a matter of cost, it is a matter of HEALTH,” he wrote. “America will have one of the best Healthcare Plans anywhere in the world. Right now it has one of the WORST!”

However, GOP lawmakers have signaled re-upping the fight against Obamacare is not a priority. At the time of Trump’s post last month, Sen. Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., reportedly said he was an advocate for lowering healthcare costs “and making our healthcare system more efficient.”

“But I’m not sure,” he said of Trump’s post. “I’d want to know what the proposal is.”

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Donald Trump wearing a red make america great again hat

A Washington Post columnist argued that the U.S. Supreme Court needs to block the Colorado Supreme Court from keeping former President Trump off the state’s primary ballot. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Ranking Republican on the Senate Health Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., also said such a healthcare replacement is “unlikely to happen.” 

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Earlier this year, a Texas judge, known for previously ruling Obamacare unconstitutional, struck down a crucial aspect of the healthcare law concerning mandatory coverage for contraception and HIV prevention, siding with a conservative activist and a Christian dentist on religious grounds. 

The March decision challenged Obamacare’s requirement for insurers to cover certain preventative care, sparking concerns from the Biden administration and in over 20 mostly Democrat-controlled states. 

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Emergency room sign

An emergency sign points to the entrance to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, March 23, 2017. ( REUTERS/Mike Blake)

This legal battle echoes previous challenges, notably the lawsuit by the Little Sisters of the Poor in 2020, when the Supreme Court upheld exemptions to Obamacare’s insurance requirements for religiously-affiliated groups and select for-profit companies.

In January 2023, nearly 16 million Americans enrolled in Obamacare plans for the year, marking a 13% increase from the previous year.