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In December 2012, former President Barack Obama said Republicans would eventually regret repealing Obamacare. In a Fox News interview that morning, Obama argued that Obamacare would be “the best healthcare system anywhere in the world.” By the end of the year, the Congressional Budget Office projected that Republicans would have to pay at least $300 billion in subsidies over the next decade.

With these numbers in mind, one might conclude that there probably won’t be much appetite to continue providing subsidies to lower-income people. And yet, we do. The subsidy system, which was created by President Lyndon Johnson, was the cornerstone of the health care market for years. It is a system that helps most Americans who aren’t otherwise eligible for health insurance, and that provides access to health coverage for everyone. Many economists say that, while the current system serves a useful purpose, the system needs to be modernized while still protecting a basic right.

The Problem with “Obamacare”

This is a problem because the current legislation leaves more work to be done.

President Trump’s original campaign proposal called for repeal and replacement of Obamacare. This seems obvious. However, the bill as it currently stands is a much different bill than it was when originally introduced, including many provisions that Republicans have objected to in the past.

Congressional Republicans may be looking to use the 2018 congressional elections to push through legislation they think helps with the middle class. When asked where they stand on an Obamacare repeal bill, most Republicans support the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in its entirety, but they disagree with its individual provisions, which are what the ACA was written for, not the broader political goals of the bill. This leads to widespread opposition in both sides of the aisle.

For example, Trump has accused Democrats of trying to kill the ACA, and Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to make insurance more expensive. Trump may know that Democrats would need Democratic support in order to enact their healthcare goals, but he likely doesn’t care that it would jeopardize the support of his own base members. He cares deeply about his base.

Furthermore, it is likely that Trump’s original plan would have included several parts of the ACA. Many conservatives believe this is because he believed Congress should be required to pass a health care overhaul bill. There is evidence that Republican leaders were able to find a compromise over repealing parts of the ACA, which resulted in significant cuts to the