United States President Donald Trump called the ObamaCare 'essentially dead' after the House of Representatives narrowly approved a legislation to repeal key parts of the Affordable Care Act and replace them with new provisions.
"Obamacare 'essentially dead' & would die immediately if we don't pay ransom payments to insurance companies," CNN quoted Trump as saying.
The Trump administration has now moved one step closer to repealing and replacing ObamaCare.
The House voted 217-213 on Thursday to send the legislation to the Senate for its approval, local media reports said.
This is seen as a significant first step toward fulfilling a seven-year promise of the Republicans to repeal and replace the 2010 law that served as a landmark overhaul of the U.S. health care system.
Trump while holding a press conference at the White House Rose Garden with Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price after the House vote said, "We knew that wasn't going to work. I predicted it a long time ago."
Trump congratulated and thanked House Speaker Paul Ryan, saying, "He has worked so hard".
He also praised House Republicans for coming together to vote in favour of the bill.
Describing the bill, Trump said that it is incredibly well-crafted and also expressed his confidence over pass of the legislation through the Senate.
He said the bill will get even better after it gets approval of the Senate.
"It's going to be an unbelievable victory when we get it through the Senate and there's so much spirit there," he said.
Earlier before the vote took place, Trump had said that Republicans will be having a big press conference at the Rose Garden of the White House immediately after vote if they win the crucial vote in the House.
"If victorious, Republicans will be having a big press conference at the beautiful Rose Garden of the White House immediately after vote!" Trump tweeted.
Meanwhile, Democrats warned that repealing and replacing ObamaCare will leave Americans worse off.
"Make no mistake, many people will die as a result of this bill," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, said.
Senator Bernie Sanders called the passing of the bill to repeal ObamaCare an absolute disaster and said that Republicans voted to let thousands of Americans die so that billionaires get tax breaks.
"Donald Trump and Republicans just celebrated voting to let thousands of Americans die so that billionaires get tax breaks. Think about that," Sanders tweeted.
"The bill that Republicans passed today is an absolute disaster. It really has nothing to do with health care. It has everything to do with an enormous shift of wealth from working people to the richest Americans. This bill would throw 24 million Americans off of health insurance - including thousands of Vermonters - cut Medicaid by $880 billion, defund Planned Parenthood and substantially increase premiums on older Americans," Sanders said in a statement after the vote.
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