House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized Obamacare at an event in Pennsylvania on Monday, telling a crowd that if Donald Trump wins the election there will be “massive” health care changes in the US.
“Healthcare reform is going to be a big part of the agenda. While I say we’re going to have a very aggressive first 100-day agenda, there’s a lot more on the table,” Johnson, R-La., said while campaigning for GOP House candidate Ryan McKenzie in Bethlehem. .Video obtained by NBC News.
“No Obamacare?” one attendee asked Johnson, referring to legislation Democrats passed in 2010, also known as the Affordable Care Act.
“No Obamacare,” Johnson replied, rolling his eyes. “The ACA is so deeply entrenched that we need massive reform to make this work, and we’ve got a lot of ideas about how to do that.”
Johnson made his comments eight days before a presidential election in which Kamala Harris and Democrats are campaigning to preserve and expand the ACA. Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to gut the ACA as president, called for reopening the fight, saying on his social media site, “Obamacare sucks.” He promised to change that, but did not provide specifics, saying only that he had “concepts of the plan.”
Harris insists Trump’s only plan is to repeal the ACA, which extended coverage Almost 50 million people In the United States since 2014, according to Government statistics.
Johnson, who Voted in 2017 A Trump-backed bill to repeal key parts of Obamacare did not explicitly call on Monday to end the Affordable Care Act. His office declined to provide details when asked what reforms he’s eyeing, what parts of the Affordable Care Act he wants to keep or repeal, or whether he supports extending ACA subsidies that expire at the end of 2025. (Harris and Democrats have called for extending that money.)
Johnson took a back-and-forth on health care to an audience at a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Monday, saying physician members of the House Republican caucus had a “menu of options” on how to fix the system and “get rid of the government bureaucracy.” The Health Care Equation.”
He did not elaborate on what changes he would seek, but made it clear that deregulation would be part of it.
“We want to take a blow to the regulatory level. These systems are weaponized against the people. It crushes the free market; it’s like a boot on the neck of job creators and entrepreneurs and risk takers. So health care is one of the sectors, and we need it,” Johnson said. .” And Trump is going big. That means he will only have one more term. Can’t run for re-election. So he’s going to think about legacy, and we’re going to fix these things.
In the next Congress no. 3 running for GOP chairman Sen. Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has called for a major health care overhaul and extending the Trump tax cuts in a major bill through 2025. It is not clear. As Senate GOP leader next year, Sen. Who will replace Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Any major rollback of the ACA would require Republicans to win the presidency and control of both houses of Congress, as Democrats would be determined to block such an effort. With some in the party calling for a return to the ACA fight, it’s unclear what changes the GOP will make.
A 2010 law imposed new regulations on insurance companies that prevent them from turning away people with pre-existing conditions or charging sicker customers higher prices. It expanded Medicaid eligibility while providing billions of dollars in subsidies for low-income people to buy coverage in the private marketplaces.
Johnson, who has campaigned across the country for GOP House candidates, spoke only in broad terms at his event Monday.
“If you take government officials out of the health care equation, if you have doctor-patient relationships, it’s better for everybody. More efficient, more effective,” he said. “That’s the free market. Trump is going to be for the free market.
The Harris and Trump campaigns are responding
Harris campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Sitika echoed Johnson’s comments, warning that “healthcare is on the ballot.”
“Speaker Mike Johnson makes it clear — if Donald Trump wins, he and his Project 2025 allies in Congress will ensure ‘No Obamacare.'” He said.
A Johnson spokesman responded with a stinging statement, accusing the Harris campaign of taking his comments out of context and “lying about Speaker Johnson” out of “frustration.” A spokesman said Johnson’s overall comments that the 2010 law would end if Republicans won were “no such comments.”
Carolyn Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, tried to distance the former president from the cause of ending the ACA, despite his long history of pursuing that goal. Last month, Trump said in his presidential debate with Harris that Obamacare was “ugly” and that “we’re going to change it,” though he said he had “ideas for a plan” to do so.
“Repealing Obamacare is not President Trump’s policy position,” Leavitt said when asked about Johnson’s comments, adding that Trump would “improve our health care system by improving transparency, choice and competition, and expanding access to new affordable health and insurance options.” .”
She did not elaborate on how.
