US President Donald Trump said Republican senators should immediately repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, if they lack the votes at this time to replace it.
In a morning tweet on Friday, Trump wrote that those lawmakers could work again on a replacement bill at a later time, Efe news reported.
"If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!" Trump wrote.
He had wanted lawmakers to pass a healthcare plan to replace the 2010 ACA prior to the July 4 holiday, but the lack of consensus among Republicans and uniform opposition from Democrats has made that goal nearly impossible.
The Senate leadership's job is particularly tricky because the bill faces opposition from both the GOP's conservative and moderate wings.
The healthcare overhaul bill being discussed by the Senate would leave an additional 22 million people without health insurance by 2026, 15 million of whom would drop off the roles in the first year after its implementation, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in a report released on Monday.
The Senate bill differs only slightly from an ACA repeal and replacement bill passed by the House of Representatives in May, a measure that the CBO said would result in 23 million more uninsured people.
Trump last week once again railed against Democrats for refusing to support the ACA replacement bill in the Senate.
"Democrats slam GOP healthcare proposal as Obamacare premiums and deductibles increase by over 100%," he tweeted on June 24.
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