“Based on the fact that the very unfair and unpopular Individual mandate has been terminated…”
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump predicted that Democrats and Republicans would work to create a new health care plan after he “essentially” repealed the Affordable Care Act (ACA):
Based on the fact that the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate has been terminated as part of our Tax Cut Bill, which essentially Repeals (over time) ObamaCare, the Democrats & Republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new HealthCare plan!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26,2017
“Democrats & Republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new HealthCare plan!” Trump said, after equating the individual mandate’s repeal with repealing the entire ACA.
His tweet came just days after he signed a sweeping tax reform law, which Democrats criticized for, among other things, repealing the individual mandate.
Trump appeared to frame the law as accomplishing two of his major campaign promises: repealing the ACA (Obamacare) and cutting taxes.
Although Congressional Republicans failed in multiple attempts to repeal the ACA, the party removed substantial provisions, such as subsidies helping low-income individuals buy health insurance.
While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said repealing the mandate — which penalizes individuals for not purchasing health insurance — would lower the deficit by billions of dollars, it also projected that 4 million fewer individuals would purchase health insurance.
That estimate seemed to confirm analysts’ fears that without the individual mandate, healthier individuals would leave insurance pools, allow costs to rise among the sick and prompt fewer people to buy health insurance.
Democrats railed against Trump’s tax plans for their impact on the middle class. On Friday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused the Republican Party of bleeding “the middle class dry.”
Republicans suggested, however, that tax cuts would spur economic growth and open economic opportunity for all Americans, not just the wealthy.
