President Trump announced via a series of tweets Monday night Republicans are “developing a really great HealthCare Plan” to replace the Affordable Care Act but that it won’t be introduced until after the 2020 elections. The tweets come after the Justice Department last week said courts should overturn the entire Affordable Care Act, not just the individual mandate provision, which is being challenged in a federal appeals court.
Some Republicans have publicly opposed the Justice Department move. Last week, Senator Susan Collins sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr asking him to reconsider the decision, writing, “The administration should not attempt to use the courts to bypass Congress.” Republican state attorneys from Ohio and Montana filed amicus briefs with the appeals court Monday, arguing striking down the ACA would cause major disruptions for patients, medical providers, insurance companies and employers. Trump’s push to repeal and replace the ACA failed in the Republican-controlled Senate in 2017, and many Republican lawmakers said the move hurt incumbents and candidates in last November’s elections.
Meanwhile, over 100 Democrats are backing a Medicare-for-all bill in the House, and most Democratic 2020 hopefuls have expressed support for a Medicare-for-all system. We’ll have more on healthcare later in the broadcast.