June 13 (UPI) — President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that more money might be needed for the Republican healthcare plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
The president made the remarks at a White House luncheon with senators.
“I’ve been talking about repealing and replacing Obamacare now for almost two years,” he said. “From day one, I said we are going to repeal and replace Obamacare. That’s what we’re going to do. So we have kept our promises.”
The GOP plan to succeed the Affordable Care Act, the American Health Care Act, remains in the Senate after narrowly passing the House last month.
Trump called the AHCA a “phenomenal bill” that’s “generous, kind, with heart.”
“And that may be adding additional money into it,” he continued. “We will come out with a real bill, not Obamacare.”
The president didn’t elaborate on his remark about adding funding to the AHCA, but it could be geared toward the iffy prospects it’s expected to face in the Senate — where Republicans hold a four-seat advantage over Democrats and GOP support for the bill is less certain.
In his remarks Tuesday, Trump again referred to Democrats in Congress as “obstructionists.”
“If we came up with the greatest healthcare ever in our country’s history, we wouldn’t get one Democrat vote,” he said.
It remains unclear when the Senate will vote on the AHCA. Trump said Tuesday it will happen “as soon as we can.”
Some lawmakers have raised concerns with the revised bill because the latest Congressional Budget Office analysis said it would still leave a great number of Americans uninsured in the next decade, 23 million, which is 1 million fewer people than the previous AHCA bill would have had. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a staunch healthcare proponent, called the AHCA “a disgrace.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hoping for a vote this month, but it may be pushed to July.
“It’s like having a baby,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. “It’s not here yet, but it’s coming.”
