At a meeting Wednesday with Democrats on Capitol Hill, President Obama offered some advice on how to make Republicans' battle to replace ObamaCare that much harder. The meeting came just three weeks ahead of Obama's departure from the White House, at which point President-elect Donald Trump has already vowed to get straight to work on dismantling the Affordable Care Act.
For starters, Obama recommended that Democrats start referring to the new GOP-crafted healthcare plan as "TrumpCare," to politicize it just as Republicans did to Obama's signature health care plan. More importantly, Obama told Democrats, "don't rescue" Republicans by stepping in to help pass replacement measures. CNN reported the mood in the room was "fired up," and Obama apparently openly told members he wished he could "be on the field" fighting as a politician instead of a citizen.
At the same time, Vice President-elect Mike Pence was meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill. "Make no mistake about it," Pence told reporters after the meeting. "We're going to keep our promise to the American people — we're going to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with solutions that lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government."
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And the battle begins.