Trump: GOP tax bill ‘essentially’ repeals ObamaCare

President Trump on Wednesday claimed the Republican tax plan “essentially” repeals former President Obama’s signature health-care law.

“When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means ObamaCare is being repealed,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “We have essentially repealed ObamaCare and we will come up with something much better.”

The GOP tax overhaul gets rid of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which requires almost all Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fine.

Trump said he refrained from playing up that measure because he was worried about how the news media would report it, but added “now that it’s approved, I can say that.”

{mosads}Despite Trump’s claim, the tax bill does not repeal ObamaCare entirely.

People will still be able to purchase insurance through individual marketplaces, Medicaid expansion is preserved and consumer protections remain in place.

But health-care experts worry that without the mandate, premiums in the individual insurance market could spike, competition could decrease and more people will become uninsured.

Before turning to taxes, Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress tried multiple times to repeal ObamaCare but failed.

Trump offered his first in-person comments on the tax bill after the Senate passed it on a party-line vote just after midnight Wednesday.

The House is expected to vote on the legislation again Wednesday afternoon, sending it to the president’s desk in what will be the first major legislative achievement for Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress.

“We got it done,” Trump said, thanking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) by name. “We have a tremendous amount of talent.”