Will Trump repeal ObamaCare?

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last updated 10 November 2016

Donald Trump's victory secured the final piece of the puzzle the Republican Party needed to repeal President Obama's signature health care plan, the Affordable Care Act. With Trump moving into the White House in January and the GOP retaining its majorities in the House and the Senate, Harvard University professor John McDonough told Vox this marks a "death blow to ObamaCare health coverage expansion."

Already, Republicans have worked out a plan to repeal ObamaCare with a reconciliation bill they crafted last year. The bill made it through the House and the Senate, but Obama promptly vetoed it when it got to his desk. If passed, the bill H.R. 3762 would have repealed the health care plan's tax credits for the purchase of insurance by the end of 2017 and halt the plan's Medicaid expansion. That would cause an estimated 22 million people to lose insurance after a transition policy of two years ended.

Vox reported that all Trump has to do to repeal Obama's health-care plan — something he has repeatedly promised he will do — is "pull this ready-made Republican plan off the shelf." "The fly in the ointment is that some of the Republicans supported the reconciliation repeal thinking it would never happen," McDonough said. "Will they actually vote to take away insurance from 20 million Americans? That's the unknown right now."