Washington • Putting pressure on Republicans, President Barack Obama pledged Friday to publicly support repealing "Obamacare" if Republicans come up with something better, but cast doubt on the GOP's ability to develop a viable alternative.
As Republicans prepare to gut his biggest legislative achievement, Obama implored his opponents not to pursue a two-step approach where the Affordable Care Act is repealed first and replaced after — perhaps years later. He sought to lay the groundwork for Democrats to pile on Republicans for taking health care away from millions of people if the replacement never materializes.
"I am saying to every Republican right now: If you, in fact, can put a plan together that is demonstrably better than what Obamacare is doing, I will publicly support repealing Obamacare and replacing it with your plan," Obama said in a live-streamed interview with online news site Vox. "But I want to see it first."
Obama appeared to be betting on the possibility that Republicans won't be able to unify behind an Obamacare replacement — or that if they do, it won't be one that will pass muster for Democrats. Though Republicans are in agreement that the law should be repealed and replaced, they're at odds over what the replacement should look like, and particularly over how to pay for popular elements they hope to preserve, including coverage for pre-existing conditions and the ability for parents to keep children on their plans until age 26.
Most alarming to Obama and Democrats is the possibility of no replacement at all, given the fact that Republicans have been unable to settle on their own health care vision in the nearly seven years since the Affordable Care Act became law. Hoping to give themselves more time while also fulfilling campaign pledges to quickly abolish the law, Republicans are discussing a repeal that wouldn't take effect for 18 months or longer, during which they'd ostensibly agree on a replacement.
The president argued that he had no "pride of authorship" over the law that colloquially bears his name, adding that it wasn't he who had dubbed it "Obamacare."
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