Health

President Obama Just Gave Advice on Saving Obamacare

January 4th 2017

President Barack Obama gave his fellow Democrats some advice on Wednesday in regards to helping maintain the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. 

Don't help Republicans. 

During a visit to Capitol Hill, Obama told Democrats in a private meeting that they shouldn't "rescue" Republicans when they try to replace Obamacare. He added that they should start referring to it as "Trumpcare" while Republicans struggle to initiate viable health care solutions. 

Donald Trump appeared to warn Republicans about the dangers of taking on Obamacare in a tweet Wednesday, showing how political the health care fight has become so far. 

Pence says it's over. 

This news comes as Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Wednesday that the president-elect will be working to repeal Obamacare on his first day, according to Yahoo News

“Obamacare has failed,” Pence said. “Now is the time to keep our promises. Step one will be to repeal Obamacare.” He added that Obamacare will be replaced without increasing the size of the federal government.

There's no replacement plan. 

Obamacare has expanded insurance coverage by 20 million people, and it's helped save lives, according to The New York Times. While it isn't impossible for Republicans to repeal and replace it, it's going to be extremely difficult. This is especially true when you consider the fact that insurers and hospitals have a lot of money tied up in the programs the law has created, and that money could disappear if Republicans simply repeal the law before they're ready to replace it.

Many Republicans have been debating back and forth between the idea of repealing the law and delaying its replacement or repealing it once a replacement is ready. If they repeal and delay, those 20 million Americans and health care companies might feel the effects.

As it stands, Republicans have no plan to replace Obamacare, and many Republicans are worried about the political ramifications of repealing the law before a replacement has been agreed upon. 

Trump supporters rely on Obamacare. 

It turns out many of the Americans who rely on Obamacare happen to also be Trump supporters. CNN aired a segment on Dec. 26 that showed people who work in coal country and supported Trump because of his energy policies but are afraid of losing their health insurance.

trump supportersGage Skidmore/Flickr - flickr.com

In a comic example of how many people rely on Obamacare, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), recently did a poll on Twitter Tuesday asking if her supporters are in favor of repealing Obamacare, while it wasn't a scientific poll it showed that 84 percent were opposed to it. However, a scientific poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation from December showed only 26 percent of Americans support repealing Obamacare.

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