President Trump makes repealing, replacing Obamacare a priority

World Today

Even before Donald Trump became U.S. president, Republican lawmakers were working to fulfill one of their campaign promises: repealing and replacing the national healthcare plan known as Obamacare.

One poll shows that a quarter of Americans want to see it repealed, and many voted to elect Trump president in order to do so.

CGTN’s Jessica Stone reports.

Sixty-six-year-old Linda Bost wrote this letter thanking U.S. President Barack Obama for the national healthcare program; she says spared her life.

At the time, Linda’s cancer had returned, her husband’s plumbing business had been wiped out and she called an insurance agent to find coverage.

So she signed up for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, using it for almost two years to continue her treatment. Her 40-year old son is still covered by the act. Linda voted for Hillary Clinton, hoping to save it.

Then there’s Mark Mueller. He wants to get rid of Obamacare. He’s a part-time worker who tried to sign up, but the price tag A quarter of his annual salary!

He decided to go without insurance altogether, but had to pay a penalty, totaling about 13-hundred dollars a year.

Mueller is a lifelong Democrat, but he voted Republican in November, hoping to get Obamacare repealed.

Now that the legislative process to overturn it is underway, both Mark and Linda have this advice for the new president of the United States.

“I’m totally for people getting healthcare if they can, but I don’t think it should be at the expense of people who can’t afford it,” Mark said.

“I’ve never quite understood, if Obamacare is so horrific – why there hasn’t been a joint decision to go ahead and make those tweaks to make it better.42 so people’s insurance are not going up in tremendous amounts,” Linda said.