Republicans have made repealing and replacing president’s signature health law top priority, which he says is ‘going to be really hard to meet’ in Vox interview

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Barack Obama suggested how he might reform so-called Obamacare if he were to remain in office: decidedly to the left of Republican proposals.

The president suggested he would give people more financial aid to offset the cost of health insurance and create a public option where insurance in the commercial health insurance market competition is scarce.

Both proposals are far from the market-based solutions past Republican healthcare reforms have suggested, such as capping spending on health programs for the elderly and poor.

“Healthcare’s not cheap,” Obama said in an interview with Vox broadcast online on Friday. “All the promises they made about they can do it better, cheaper, are going to be really hard to meet.”

Obama called Republicans strategy to repeal then replace the law after a two-to-four year “transition period” a “disservice to the American people”.

“I am saying to every Republican right now, if you in fact can put together a plan right now that is demonstrably better than what Obamacare is doing,” Obama said, “I will publicly support repealing Obamacare and replacing it with your plan.”

The Republicans who are not totally enthusiastic about repealing Obamacare Read more

Since returning to Congress, Republicans have made repealing the president’s signature health law a top priority, seeking to fulfill the “repeal and replace” promise President-elect Donald Trump and others campaigned on for years.

Obama’s suggestions fall far to the left of what many past Republicans have proposed in the past. Conservative proposals tend to include tax preferred savings accounts and caps on government healthcare spending while maintaining more popular Obamacare provisions such as a ban on insurance companies disqualifying people with pre-existing illnesses.

The relatively friendly interview came the same day as an opinion piece by the president was published by the New England Journal of Medicine and a national survey by the health research nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. The op-ed called on Republicans to replace the law at the same time as repeal. The survey found just 20% of Americans want Republicans to repeal the law immediately without working out a replacement solution.

Some Republicans also expressed doubt this week about the “repeal and delay” strategy championed by congressional leadership.

That strategy would have Republicans immediately do away with parts of Obamacare that impact taxes and spending, such as the tax penalty imposed on people who don’t buy insurance, while keeping popular parts of the law, such as a provision that allows children to stay on their parents insurance until they are 26.

More than 90% of Americans have health insurance since the implementation of Obamacare, the highest proportion ever. Growth in healthcare spending has also slowed compared to years before Obamacare.

However, state exchanges set up by the law have also suffered, as insurers have pulled out following Republicans’ refusal to fund subsidies to insurance companies. Further, for some in states where Republican governors refused to expand public health insurance programs for the poor, some are still unable to afford insurance.