Johnson promises health care reform if Republicans win: “No Obamacare”

CNN
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House Speaker Mike Johnson told a group of supporters on Monday evening that Republicans will seek “massive reform” of the Affordable Care Act if Donald Trump is reelected — a foretaste of a key part of the GOP’s legislative plans for next year.

During a campaign swing in Pennsylvania, the GOP spokesman promised that overhauling the 14-year-old health care law would be part of a “very aggressive” agenda for the first 100 days if Republicans regain control of the White House, according to a video obtained by CNN received event. Johnson spoke at a GOP campaign rally at the Trump volunteer headquarters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

At one point, an attendee asked Johnson directly, “No Obamacare?” And the speaker, wearing a personalized Trump Vance jacket, replied, “No Obamacare.”

Johnson's comments on the landmark 2010 health care law known as Obamacare – a longtime Republican favorite – come as both parties make their closing arguments to voters. Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly warned that Trump would seek to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he takes back the White House, while the former president has said he would improve the law.

The speaker's remarks are This is particularly notable after the Republican Party's high-profile failure to repeal key portions of the health care law during Trump's first term.

“Health care reform will be an important part of the agenda,” Johnson said at the event. It was Johnson's third visit to the critical Lehigh Valley seat in eastern Pennsylvania, where he wants to help Republican challenger Ryan Mackenzie unseat Democratic Rep. Susan Wild.

In a statement released Wednesday, Johnson said he was not actually vowing to repeal the health care law, but was instead talking about broader reforms.

“Despite the dishonest characterizations from the Harris campaign, the audio recording and transcript make clear that I made no such promise to end Obamacare and, in fact, acknowledged that the policy is 'deeply rooted' in our health care system,” Johnson said . “However, House Republicans will always strive to reduce costs and improve the quality and availability of health care for all Americans.”

Republican leaders tried to repeal Obamacare when they had full control of Washington in 2017, but were blocked by then-Sen. John McCain, who opposed the GOP effort because the party had no substantive plan to replace the law. Since then, Republicans have shifted their focus away from health care policy, particularly as they consider major tax reform early next year.

Add to that the political reality: Republicans in Congress have failed to do much more than chip away at the law's boundaries while the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the law.

But Johnson made clear this week that Republicans are not giving up on targeting the law.

“The ACA is so deeply rooted; We need comprehensive reforms to make this work. And we have a lot of ideas about how we can do that,” Johnson said.

The speaker did not provide details about the GOP's legislative plans, but noted that a group of Republican doctors in the House of Representatives, known as the GOP Doctors Caucus, has been developing potential legislative ideas.

And he said it wouldn't just be health care undergoing sweeping “free market” reform.

“We need this across the board. And Trump will be big. “I mean, he's only going to serve one more term, right?” Johnson said.

Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader and top House Democrat, also used the comments on a campaign tour through Michigan.

“Just yesterday, the top Republican in the House said one of the first things they would do was repeal and abolish the Affordable Care Act as we know it. This is still on their minds,” Jeffries said at a union hall in Lansing, Michigan, according to a video obtained by CNN. “We know they will because I believe that if Roe vs. Wade can fall, everything can fall.”

Johnson's comments were first reported by NBC News.

Johnson's comments are another example of the danger that a Republican victory poses to the Affordable Care Act, the Harris campaign said.

While the once-controversial health care law was not a major issue of the 2024 campaign, Harris has repeatedly sought to remind Americans of her opponent's determination to destroy Obamacare while he was in office. She has focused particularly on potential revisions to the law's protections for people with pre-existing conditions, which are among the law's most popular provisions.

Using a different tactic than his previous campaigns, Trump himself emphasized to voters that he would not repeal the health care law. His national press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated this in a statement to CNN on Wednesday, saying: “Repealing Obamacare is not President Trump's policy position.”

The former president is now positioning himself as the savior of the Affordable Care Act and has promised to further improve it. However, when asked for details at the presidential debate in September, he said he had “concepts of a plan.”

His vice presidential running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has offered some insight into the reforms Republicans might seek – telling NBC in September: “They also want to implement a deregulation agenda so that people can choose a health plan that suits them fits.”

In particular, he discussed the possibility for insurers to separate healthy and sick insureds into different risk pools, which he said would expand the options available to consumers but health experts say would require sick people to pay higher premiums.

Vance later backtracked slightly and said he supported the Trump administration's approval of several states' waiver requests to establish reinsurance programs in their Affordable Care Act exchanges. This generally led to a reduction in Obamacare premiums by providing funds to insurers who included many high-cost patients.