Determined to save his legacy and signature healthcare reform law, US President Barack Obama has appealed to fellow Democrats to "look out for the American people" and not "rescue" Republicans as the incoming Trump team vowed to repeal Obamacare their top priority.
With less than three weeks left to end his eight-year stint at the White House, Obama met Democratic lawmakers yesterday on Capitol Hill with a mission to save his healthcare reform law as Republicans are moving quickly to unroll the Affordable Care Act.
In a two-hour session, Obama urged fellow Democrats to not "rescue" Republicans by helping them pass replacement measures, CNN quoted sources who attended the closed-door meeting as saying.
He also floated this idea: Start referring to the Republican Party's new plan as "Trumpcare."
As he walked by a group of reporters, Obama would only say this about the Democratic Party's message: "Look out for the American people."
The healthcare law has extended health coverage to an estimated 20 million Americans. ObamaCare is a US healthcare reform law that expands and improves access to care and curbs spending through regulations and taxes.
But some reports say the 2010 Affordable Care Act law has been hit by soaring premium costs and major insurers withdrawing from the scheme, leaving Americans with fewer choices for coverage.
After the meeting, a White House aide said Obama used "Trumpcare" as an indication he was open to Trump taking credit for improvements.
The feisty remarks from the outgoing President came as Republicans also huddled on Capitol Hill yesterday to chart their path forward repealing Obamacare.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence visited with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill in what became a morning of dueling meetings on Day Two of the new Congress.
Pence told reporters following the meeting: "Make no mistake about it: We're going to keep our promise to the American people -- we're going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with solutions that lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government."
Pence said they would bring about a "smooth transition to a market-based healthcare reform system".
He said repealing and replacing Obamacare was "first order of business" for President-elect Donald Trump and Congress.
House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans - who have voted more than 50 times to try to repeal all or part of Obamacare - "have a plan" and "plenty of ideas."
But Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned that scrapping the law would throw the insurance marketplace into turmoil and - in a play on Mr Trump's campaign slogan - "Make America Sick Again".
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Trump made getting rid of the law a key element of his campaign strategy. He said on Twitter on Tuesday that Obamacare provided "lousy healthcare."
With Trump headed for the Oval Office on January 20, and Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, the prospects for a successful repeal now appear more realistic, CNN said.
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans took their first steps toward repealing Obamacare, filing a budget resolution reversing key elements of the law.
There remain divisions, however, on which precise elements of the law to scrap, and how to replace Obamacare with a law that does not strip Americans of their health insurance.
Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky, wrote in an op-ed on Tuesday that lawmakers should not vote on repealing Obamacare until a replacement plan was developed.
"If Congress fails to vote on a replacement at the same time as repeal, the repealers risk assuming the blame for the continued unraveling of Obamacare. For mark my words, Obamacare will continue to unravel and wreak havoc for years to come," he wrote.
And Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, who has been tapped to serve as his senior counselor at the White House, said on Tuesday that passing repeal and replacement measures simultaneously would be "the ideal situation."
"We don't want anyone who currently has insurance to not have insurance," Conway said on MSNBC, adding there "are some pieces of merit in the current plan."
The Obama administration said yesterday that 8.8 million Americans had enrolled in Obamacare for 2017, about 200,000 more than at the same time a year ago.
