The President assures that “a great solution ultimately for health care” is on the way
Trump seems supportive of bipartisan two-year deal for Affordable Care Act subsidies
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Tuesday that a bipartisan plan announced by two senators is part of “short-term deal” to preserve the health insurance subsidies he killed last week, with a bigger plan to overhaul predecessor Barack Obama’s entire health care law coming next year.
“We’re going to have a great solution ultimately for health care, OK?” Trump said during a joint news conference at the White House with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. “And they are working together and I know very much what they’re doing, OK?”
Trump’s comment followed an announcement by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., that he and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., reached a deal on extending cost-sharing subsidies for insurance companies. Last week, Trump said he would stop paying the subsidies and force Congress to come up with a deal to save them.
The president also discussed health care during an earlier photo opportunity with Tsipras, using a reporter’s question to again bash the Affordable Care Act, the signature health care signed by Obama.
“Obamacare is a disgrace to our nation,” Trump said with Tsipras at his side in the Oval Office. “We are solving the problem of Obamacare.”
In the news conference, Trump pronounced Obamacare “dead as far as I’m concerned,” even though the Republican-run Congress has been unable to come up with a “repeal and replace” health plan throughout the year.
He was then told about the Alexander-Murray deal.
During both the news conference and at the photo opportunity, Trump and Tsipras pledged to work together to address mutual issues, particularly Greece’s efforts to recover from its financial crisis.
“They’re doing a terrific job of coming back,” Trump said. “They will be back. We’re working with them on many things.”
This even though before last year’s election the Greek leader said he hoped he wouldn’t have to face the “evil” of a Trump presidency.
“I wish I knew that before my speech,” Trump cracked after a reporter at the news conference asked Tsipras about the comment.
The Greek prime minister avoided the question, saying only that he and Trump had a productive meeting at the White House, and “not a moment did I feel that I was threatened at any time.
Perhaps seeking to buck up his guest, Trump said that “a number of countries were a little bit nervous at the beginning” of his presidency, but “I have very good relationships with the leaders of virtually every country I’ve dealt with.”
Tsipras said he and Trump also discussed what some see as authoritarian moves in Turkey. Despite disputes, Tsipras said Turkey should remain in NATO, and “we continue to support the Turkish course towards Europe.”
The meetings between U.S. and Greek officials will also be used to look for “additional ways Greece will help us and we will help Greece,” Trump said earlier in the day, citing the U.S. sale of F-16 planes as an example.
Trump’s comments about health care came as he attempts to dismantle the law by executive order.
Last week, the president signed an executive order that allowed the purchase of low-cost, short-term policies that do not adhere to the law’s requirements. He announced the government would not make cost-sharing subsidies to insurance companies that lowered the cost of insurance to millions of Americans.
