Trump Announces That He Will Unveil New Health Care Plan “Soon,” Gives No Specifics

President Donald Trump announced in an ABC interview that he will be unveiling a new health care plan in the next few months in an attempt to counter the 2020 Democratic candidates’ heavy focus on the subject.

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While speaking to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Trump remarked, “We’re going to produce phenomenal health care, and we already have the concept of the plan.” When the host pushed further, Trump added, “We’ll be announcing that in two months, maybe less.” He then went on to attack the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, saying that it was a “disaster” but “we’ve made it serviceable.”

Trump has been trying to dismantle Obamacare for years, repeatedly bashing it during his 2016 campaign. The president promised his supporters that he would scrap it in favor of something that would cost less and cover more people. Trump never managed to produce a plan along those lines, however, as all of his previous attempts at reforming health care would have covered fewer people and were so unpopular that the Republican-controlled Congress was unable to pass them.

In response to the GOP’s failed attacks on Obamacare, the Democrats have taken up the mantle as the defender of insurance, promising to expand programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. So far this approach has been successful for the liberals, as their healthcare-focused 2018 midterm campaign helped them win back control of the House. Democrats hope that their stance on health care will continue to bring them support from lower-income voters who would be seriously hurt by a reduction in the coverage of Medicaid. Some 2020 candidates, such as Bernie Sanders, have even gone so far as to suggest a single-payer healthcare system in which every citizen is insured by a publicly funded system of coverage, such as the British National Health Service.

Trump is hoping that if he can come up with some plan that seems more appealing than that of the Democrats he can take away one of their primary weapons while also netting him more support. Many top Republicans worry about the success of the president’s plan, noting that the financial burden of his promise (more coverage for a smaller cost) makes it hard to come up with a legitimate proposal that won’t leave a substantial group of people dissatisfied. If Trump releases such a plan, then it will provide an easy target for the Democrats to attack over the next year.