A top GOP senator said he does not believe Congress will pass a bill to repeal and replace key parts of Obamacare this year.

Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina also said the deeply unpopular Republican health bill passed by the House to undo much of Obamacare is "dead on arrival" in the Senate.

"It's ... not a good plan," Burr said in an interview with WXII 12 News in his home state.

"It's unlikely that we'll get a health-care deal," said Burr, head of the Senate's Intelligence Committee. "I don't see a comprehensive health-care plan this year."

"At the end of the day, this is too important to get wrong," he said, when a reporter pointed out that his fellow Republicans are keen to pass a bill this year.

Burr said that because a health-care bill is unlikely to be passed into law this year, he is focused on seeing what can be done to help residents of his home state, Iowa and Tennessee, where there is a dearth of competition among Obamacare insurers.

Republicans have campaigned for years on promises to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the landmark health-care law that expanded insurance coverage to about 20 million Americans under President Barack Obama.