Ohio Republican and former House Speaker John Boehner told attendees at an Orlando health care conference Thursday that a full repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, “is not going to happen.”
The Washington Post reports that Boehner, who was ousted by conservatives in 2015, said he started laughing when he heard President Donald Trump and Republicans promise swift action on undoing and replacing the health law.
“Republicans never, ever agree on health care,” Boehner said.
Congressional Republicans are “going to fix Obamacare—I shouldn’t call it ‘repeal and replace,’ because it’s not going to happen,” Boehner said. “Most of the framework of the Affordable Care Act, that’s going to be there.”
Politico originally reported Boehner’s comments, and while spokesman Dave Schnittger confirmed the accuracy of the remarks Politico reported, he said that the site omitted some context. He told the Post that Boehner is confident that Republicans “will right the many wrongs of Obamacare, whether your preference is to call it repair, a replacement or something else.”
“His point was that the process of doing it from start to finish will not be an instantaneous one, and I think that’s already been borne out by recent developments,” Schnittger said.
Boehner himself promised numerous times to repeal and replace Obamacare in full while he was speaker, and he presided over the 2013 government sequestration aimed at taking money from the law.
According to the Post, House Republicans plan to roll out legislation in the coming weeks that will replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act with a new system involving tax credits, health savings accounts and high risk pools.
Read more at the Washington Post.