Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is disputing Democrats’ assertion that he needs to repeal ObamaCare after Vice President Harris’s marketing campaign seized on feedback he made at a marketing campaign cease this week.
“Despite the dishonest characterizations from the Harris campaign, the audio and transcript make clear that I offered no such promise to end ObamaCare, and in fact acknowledged that the policy is ‘deeply ingrained’ in our health care system,” Johnson stated in an announcement to The Hill.
“Still, House Republicans will always seek to reduce the costs and improve the quality and availability of health care for all Americans. Anyone who has been a patient or known a loved one who has struggled with health issues understands why this is so important,” Johnson stated.
ObamaCare, often known as the Reasonably priced Care Act (ACA), got here up Monday as Johnson was fielding questions at a marketing campaign cease in Bethlehem, Pa., and was requested about former President Trump’s plans for well being care reform.
“Health care reform’s going to be part of the agenda,” Johnson stated. “When I say we’ve got a very aggressive first 100 days agenda, we’ve got a lot of things on the table.”
“Trump’s going to go big,” Johnson later stated. “He’s only going to have one more term, and so he’s going to be thinking about legacy.”
“No ObamaCare?” an individual within the crowd requested.
Johnson repeated, “No ObamaCare,” as he rolled his eyes and tilted his head, persevering with, “The ACA is so deeply ingrained. We need massive reform to make this work, and we’ve got a lot of ideas on how to do that.”
The Harris marketing campaign blasted Johnson’s feedback in a launch Tuesday, arguing it confirmed a Republican plan to do away with ObamaCare.
“Health care is on the ballot this November. Speaker Mike Johnson is making it clear – if Donald Trump wins, he and his Project 2025 allies in Congress will make sure there is ‘no Obamacare,’” Harris marketing campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika stated in an announcement, citing an NBC Information article that first reported the feedback. “That means higher health care costs for millions of families and ripping away protections from Americans with preexisting conditions like diabetes, asthma, or cancer.”
However whereas Johnson says he didn’t decide to repeal the ACA, he did speak about adjustments to the well being care system.
On the marketing campaign occasion, Johnson referenced a “menu” of well being care reforms proposed by the GOP Medical doctors Caucus, composed of members of congress who’re physicians.
“You take government bureaucrats out of the health care equation, and you have doctor-patient relationships, it’s better for everybody — more efficient, more effective. That’s the free market. Trump’s going to be for the free market. You heard a little sample of that last night,” Johnson stated, “We want to take a blowtorch to the regulatory state.”
The back-and-forth, although, highlights the problem Republicans have had in articulating plans for the now-popular well being care regulation that they unsuccessfully tried to repeal throughout Trump’s White Home stint.
ObamaCare has been one of many prime achievements for Democrats, nevertheless it wasn’t all the time so widespread.
Nearly as quickly because the regulation was handed in 2010, it grew to become a political albatross for Democrats. It price them management of the Home and Senate, and finally the presidency, as Trump received the White Home in 2016 with the assistance of a pledge to “repeal and replace” the well being regulation.
However after Trump and congressional Republicans did not repeal the regulation in 2017 by a single vote, its recognition soared. Democrats received again management of the Home within the 2018 midterms by campaigning on defending preexisting circumstances. The White Home final month touted a report displaying almost 50 million folks have had protection by the regulation over the previous decade.
Harris has promised to construct on the regulation and strengthen it if elected.
When pressed by ABC moderators throughout September’s presidential debate, Trump acknowledged he doesn’t at present have a plan to interchange ObamaCare if it had been repealed, solely “concepts of a plan.”
Trump has been criticizing the regulation these days whereas additionally claiming he “saved” it from failing.
The Republican presidential nominee has by no means been particular about how he’d change well being protection for tens of hundreds of thousands of People.
The Hill has reached out to the Harris marketing campaign for additional remark.
