The White House is preparing to unveil a plan on Wednesday to replace the Affordable Care Act with a new, government-run health care system, according to people familiar with the matter.
The plan would also provide for an expansion of Medicaid, which has been under assault in Congress over the past year as it attempts to balance the budget.
The White House would also seek to eliminate or cut subsidies for many other popular health care policies, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicare Advantage plans for seniors, these people said.
As the president has made clear, he wants to get rid of the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare, and replace it on his first day in office with a plan that provides for a voucher system for low-income Americans, these White House officials said.
They said the proposal would be presented in the coming days to the president.
Obamacare, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2010, provides health insurance coverage for the uninsured, low- and moderate-income people, but has drawn criticism from conservatives, who have objected to its mandates for health insurance, high taxes, a lack of access to doctors and hospitals and many other features.
On Wednesday, President Donald J. Trump, left, shakes hands with Vice President Mike Pence after signing a healthcare bill in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
Trump signed the healthcare bill on Tuesday, ending more than two years of negotiations and moving closer to a vote on the bill.
Trump said in a statement that the plan would provide “free and open competition for affordable healthcare in the private sector.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has called the bill the worst legislation he has seen in his eight years in Congress.
Ryan has also said the plan is not a replacement for Obamacare.
“The president’s proposal is the worst healthcare legislation I have seen since I was a member of Congress, and he’s right.
It is a massive tax cut for the wealthy, a massive cut in Medicaid, and a massive transfer of power to special interests,” Ryan said in an interview with Fox News.
Trump is expected to sign the bill and deliver it to Ryan on Thursday.
The legislation would likely be passed by Congress.
The White Street Journal reported that Trump has offered to give Ryan an executive order directing the president to draft a replacement plan, as he did for Obamacare, for a new healthcare law.
That order would require him to take steps to repeal and replace the current healthcare system, the Journal reported.
