CNN
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House Speaker Mike Johnson told a group of supporters Monday night that Republicans will seek “massive reform” of the Affordable Care Act if Donald Trump is re-elected, setting out next year’s Republican legislative plan. The main parts have been predicted.
While campaigning in Pennsylvania, the Republican Party chairman said that if Republicans regained control of the White House, an overhaul of the 14-year-old health care law would be “very aggressive” on the agenda for the first 100 days, according to a video. A look at the event obtained by CNN, which has vowed to be a part of. Johnson was speaking at a Republican campaign event at President Trump’s volunteer headquarters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
At one point, an attendee directly asked Johnson, “Is Obamacare bad?” The speaker, wearing a signature Trump and Vance jacket, responded, “No to Obamacare.”
Johnson’s comments on the landmark 2010 health care law known as Obamacare, a longtime Republican punching bag, came as both parties were making closing arguments to voters. . Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly warned that President Trump would try to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he regains the White House, but the former president has said he would improve the law.
The speaker’s comments are particularly notable after Republicans made headlines during President Trump’s first term when they failed to repeal key parts of the health care law.
“Health reform is going to be a big part of the agenda,” Johnson said at the event. It was the third time Johnson has visited the key battleground district in eastern Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley as he seeks to help Republican challenger Ryan McKenzie defeat Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wilde. .
In a statement released Wednesday, Prime Minister Johnson said he was not actually vowing to repeal the health care law, but was instead talking about far-reaching reforms.
“Despite the Harris campaign’s disingenuous characterization, the audio and recordings make clear that I have made no such promise to repeal Obamacare and, in fact, that this policy has no impact on our nation’s health care system. “It’s deeply ingrained,” Johnson said. “Yet, House Republicans will always seek to reduce costs and improve the quality and availability of health care for all Americans.”
Republican leaders tried to dismantle Obamacare when they took full control of Washington in 2017, but then-Sen. John McCain opposed the Republican effort because the party had no substantive plan to replace the law. Since then, Republicans have shifted their focus away from health care policy, especially as they eye major tax reform early next year.
There are also political realities. While the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the bill, Republicans in Congress have done little more than chip away at the corners of the law.
But Mr Johnson made it clear this week that Republicans were not giving up on targeting the law.
“The ACA is very deeply entrenched. It requires major reform to make it work. And we’ve got a lot of ideas about how to make that happen,” Johnson said.
The speaker did not discuss details of the Republican legislative plan, but noted that a group of Republican doctors in the House, known as the Republican Physicians Association, is drafting ideas for possible legislation.
And health care is not the only area undergoing a major “free market” overhaul, he said.
“We need this across the board, and Trump is going to be big. I mean, he only has one term left, right?” Johnson said.
House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House, also drew attention to the comments while campaigning throughout Michigan.
“Just yesterday, the top House Republican said one of the first things they would do is repeal and repeal the Affordable Care Act as we know it,” according to a video obtained by CNN. “They’re going to do that because I’m a firm believer that if Roe v. Wade can be lost, anything can be lost,” Jeffries said at the union hall in Lansing, Michigan. I understand.”
Johnson’s remarks were first reported by NBC News.
Harris’ campaign argues that Johnson’s comments are another example of the dangers a Republican landslide poses to the Affordable Care Act.
While the once-controversial health care law is not a key theme in her 2024 campaign, Harris has repeatedly sought to remind Americans of her opponents’ determination to water down Obamacare during her presidency. . In particular, it focuses on one of the law’s most popular provisions, which could lead to an overhaul of the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Mr. Trump himself has adopted a different tactic from previous campaigns, emphasizing to voters that he has no intention of repealing the health care law. National spokesperson Caroline Levitt reaffirmed that in a statement to CNN on Wednesday, saying, “Repealing Obamacare is not a policy position of President Trump.”
The former president now positions himself as the savior of the Affordable Care Act and promises to make it even better. However, when asked for details during a presidential debate in September, he said, “I have an idea for a plan.”
His running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, offered some insight into the reforms sought by Republicans, telling NBC in September, “We also want to ease regulations so people can choose the health care plan that’s right for them.” I’m thinking of doing that,” he said.
In particular, he discussed allowing insurance companies to separate healthy and sick policyholders into different risk pools, arguing that this would expand the options available to consumers, but medical experts argued that people with frequent illnesses could be forced to pay higher premiums.
Vance later backtracked slightly, saying he supported the Trump administration’s approval of multiple states’ waiver requests to implement reinsurance programs in exchange for the Affordable Care Act. This lowered Obamacare premiums across the board by giving money to insurance companies that enrolled many high-cost patients.
