President Donald Trump on Tuesday falsely claimed that congressional Republicans’ tax bill “essentially Repeals (over time) ObamaCare,” perpetuating a false claim he made previously to celebrate the bill’s passage.
The GOP tax bill, which Trump signed into law last week, eliminates the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, but leaves other essential parts of the law intact.
Trump also argued in his tweet that both parties would “eventually come together” to work on a replacement for Obamacare. But that remains to be seen, as Republicans failed earlier this year to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act outright, and Democrats are committed to protecting the health care law.
In place of complete repeal, Republicans have devised other ways to weaken the law’s provisions, such as by eliminating the individual mandate, which will worsen insurance markets.
But the tax bill does not affect other important provisions of Obamacare, such as protections for people with pre-existing conditions, tax credits for people who buy their own insurance and the expansion of state Medicaid programs. And nearly 9 million people enrolled in Obamacare for 2018, despite efforts by Trump and GOP leaders to undermine the program.
That has not stopped Trump from falsely taking credit for “essentially” repealing it.
“When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means Obamacare is being repealed,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting last week, before leaving Washington for Christmas. “We have essentially repealed Obamacare, and we will come up with something much better.”
The president also boasted that he tried to prevent the “fake news media” from reporting on it.
“Obamacare has been repealed in this bill,” Trump said. “We didn’t want to bring it up. I told people specifically, ‘Be quiet with the fake news media,’ because I don’t want them talking too much about it.”
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