Trump Changes His Tune On Repealing The Affordable Care Act

Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr.

The Republican Party’s most recent attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) died Monday after two Republican senators revealed they do not support the bill. Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas announced they would not support the bill, leaving it four votes shy of getting through the Senate. The bill received zero support from Senate Democrats or its lone Independent, Bernie Sanders.

Never one to accept defeat, President Trump patted himself on the back for a job well done on Tuesday. “The vote would have been pretty close to, if you look at it, 48 to 4. That’s a pretty impressive vote by any standard,” he said, neglecting the fact the 48 non-Republicans in the Senate didn’t support the bill either. Trump also pinned the bill’s failure on a lack of Republicans in the Senate, although they have a majority. “In ’18 we’re gonna have to get some more people elected,” he said. “We have to go out and we have to get more people elected that are Republican.”

Trump also distanced himself from the bill’s demise by saying he didn’t really want it to pass in the first place.

This contradicts just about everything Trump said about his health care during the election.

For a sitting president to hope the American health care system fails is an unbelievably cynical position. The ACA’s failure would result in skyrocketing health care costs and put Americans’ health in jeopardy.

But if Trump wants to wait for the ACA to fail, it’s not happening anytime soon. According to a recent report by the Los Angeles Times, “Every measure of healthcare spending, access and cost has improved since the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act.” So maybe the president should celebrate the fact the Republican health care bill didn’t pass.