With Failure Of GOP Health Care Bill, Trump Takes His Biggest L Yet
On Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump took what was arguably the biggest loss of his time so far in office when the GOP health care plan to replace Obamacare completely failed in Congress.
Republicans did not have the votes, so President Trump called House Speaker Paul Ryan and asked him to pull the bill from consideration.
This is a major defeat for both the GOP and the president, and its failure happens to come one day after the seventh anniversary of signing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare.
It was the first big legislative battle of Trump's presidency, and it didn't pass.
After all of this transpired, Trump called The New York Times and told them the bill failed because of Democrats and added they would try to seek a deal with him within a year once “Obamacare explodes” due to higher premiums.
But, in reality, the health care plan was probably doomed from the start for a very simple reason: It was awful.
The Republican health care plan, also known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA), was extremely unpopular, with only 17 percent of the nation supporting it, according to a recent Quinnipiac Poll.
It was not only Democrats who opposed the bill, but also a number of Republicans.
A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office showed the implementation of the plan could increase the number of Americans without health insurance by 14 million within a year and 24 million by 2026.
Throughout the day on Friday, many members of Congress tweeted their constituents had called them about the health care plan to voice their objection. These efforts from Americans across the nation appear to have had a major impact.
Trump has repeatedly promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but his hopes of doing so have just being diminished drastically.
This is definitely an embarrassing moment for the president, as he's frequently painted himself as someone who can close a deal. But, in this case, he came up short, bigly.
Citations: Trump Blames Democrats As Major Push To Repeal Health Law Fails (The New York Times)
