During a listening session on healthcare at the White House on Monday, President Donald Trump said Republicans “are putting themselves in a very bad position…by repealing Obamacare.”

Trump said that his administration is “committed to repealing and replacing” Obamacare and that the House Obamacare replacement will lead to more choice at a lower cost. He further stated, “[T]he press is making Obamacare look so good all, of a sudden. I’m watching the news. It looks so good. They’re showing these reports about this one gets so much, and this one gets so much. First of all, it covers very few people, and it’s imploding. And ’17 will be the worst year. And I said it once; I’ll say it again: because Obama’s gone.”

He continued, “And the Republicans, frankly, are putting themselves in a very bad position — I tell this to Tom Price all the time — by repealing Obamacare. Because people aren’t gonna see the truly devastating effects of Obamacare. They’re not gonna see the devastation. In ’17 and ’18 and ’19, it’ll be gone by then. It’ll — whether we do it or not, it’ll be imploded off the map.”

He added, “So, the press is making it look so wonderful, so that if we end it, everyone’s going to say, ‘Oh, remember how great Obamacare used to be? Remember how wonderful it used to be? It was so great.’ It’s a little bit like President Obama. When he left, people liked him. When he was here, people didn’t like him so much. That’s the way life goes. That’s human nature.”

Trump further stated that while letting Obamacare collapse on its own was the best thing to do politically, it wasn’t the right thing to do for the country.

(h/t Politico)

Follow Pam Key On Twitter @pamkeyNEN