On February 24th, President Trump spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and echoed his continued sentiment that the Affordable Care Act must be repealed and replaced. He referred to the ACA and its goal for healthcare reform as a “crisis” and promised once again to have it withdrawn. While Trump channels optimism of delivering on his promise, Former House Speaker John Boehner casts doubts.
The day before CPAC, Boehner explained that in order for the ACA repeal and replacement to be a real success, it must be bipartisan. “Big things in America that are lasting happen on a bipartisan basis,” he remarked. That works in both directions, as Republicans did not vote in the ACA, and Democrats will surely not vote it out.
The Republican former House Speaker further explained that the task of finding a replacement plan for the ACA is an arduous one and “Republicans have never, ever, not one time agreed what a healthcare proposal should look like. Not once.”
Tellingly, despite Republican control of the White House and both houses of Congress and loud rhetoric from them to repeal the ACA immediately, nothing has happened yet. In the words of Boehner, as to any repeal and replace of the ACA, “that’s not what’s going to happen.”
