Donald Trump Pushes for Immediate Repeal, Quick Replacement of Obamacare

WASHINGTON, DC — The clock is ticking ever faster for the Affordable Care Act, which President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to repeal, and now says he'd like to see scrapped immediately and replaced "very shortly."

In comments to the New York Times Tuesday, the President-elect called the law, better known as Obamacare, "a catastrophic event."

"We have to get to business," he told the paper.

Trump is putting the pressure on Republicans who had planned to scratch off parts of the law starting this week, but potentially take another two to three years to fully replace the legislation.

Reports the Times:

Mr. Trump, who seemed unclear about the timing of already scheduled votes in Congress this week, demanded a repeal vote “probably some time next week,” and said “the replace will be very quickly or simultaneously, very shortly thereafter.”

That demand is very likely impossible

The challenge is that dismantling the bill can in many cases be done with the Republicans' majority, protecting lawmakers against potential Democratic filibuster. Replacing the legislation, however, will take bipartisan buy-in, a process that's bound to be both rancorous and lengthy.

The interim period potentially leaves many Obamacare recipients in the lurch. And whatever the transition time might be, disagreement between the White House and Capitol Hill can only serve to seed additional chaos and confusion during the repeal of a law that's already provided more than its fair share of both.

Read more here, from NYT.

Image via Gage Skidmore