Obamacare would be even harder to kill now, but Trump promises to try anyway

Former President Donald Trump is doubling down on his vow to repeal Obamacare if he wins the White House again, even though an increasing number of Americans have embraced the landmark health reform law in recent years.

“We’re gonna fight for much better health care than Obamacare. Obamacare is a catastrophe. Nobody talks about it. You know, without John McCain, we would have had it done,” Trump said in a speech in Newton, Iowa, on Saturday, referencing the late Republican senator’s crucial vote against dismantling the Affordable Care Act in 2017.

A record number of people are signing up for Obamacare policies and the law enjoys much higher favorability ratings among the public than it ever has. But although it has been a politically losing issue for Republicans in recent elections, Trump has revived his quest to kill Obamacare during his latest bid for the GOP nomination. It began in November, when he posted on his Truth Social site that Republicans should “never give up” trying to terminate the law and that he would replace it with “MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also vying for the Republican nomination, followed suit late last year, saying that he would “replace and supersede” the Affordable Care Act with “a better plan” since “Obamacare has not worked.” The law took plenty of heat during the fourth GOP presidential debate in November.

However, it would be even tougher than it was in 2017 for Republicans to try to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, even if they secure control of the White House and Congress in this year’s elections.

The nearly 14-year-old law is even more embedded in the nation’s health care system than it was when Trump took office, vowing to eradicate Obamacare. But he and the Republican lawmakers who controlled Congress ultimately failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care…