President Donald Trump criticized the Affordable Care Act and said he had a better health care plan.Pete Marovich / Getty Images
President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that he doesn't want to extend expiring subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, delivering a major blow to prospects of averting sharp premium hikes next year.
"I'd rather not. Somebody said I want to extend them for two years. I don't want to extend them for two years. I'd rather not extend them at all," Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Florida when he was asked whether he plans to extend the funds.
The White House has refrained from offering a detailed health care plan as up to 22 million people are expected to face higher costs starting in January because of the lapse of ACA funds passed in 2021 and designed to cap premiums.
Trump faces a divided Republican Party, in which many conservatives want the enhanced ACA funds to end after this year. Others, most notably GOP lawmakers in swing districts who are locked in competitive elections, say they want a temporary extension while Congress grapples with a longer-term solution.
The opponents of the funds are winning the battle inside the GOP, and it's far from clear Trump intends to spend political capital to move the needle. Democrats withheld support for government funding to push for extending the money, forcing the longest shutdown in U.S. history as they made it a core demand, but Republicans held firm in opposition to negotiating continuing the subsidies.
Still, Trump said Tuesday that "some kind of extension may be necessary to get something else done, because the unaffordable care act has been a disaster." But he blamed Democrats for that and said, "They are negotiating with me."
Asked which Democrats he's talking to, Trump replied: "I can't tell you who, but we have a lot of Democrats want this plan to happen. They would love to see the money go to the people and the people go out and get their own health care."
Even though Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, it will require bipartisan support to overcome the 60-vote threshold in the Senate to pass a health care overhaul.
Trump added that he wants to redirect the money.
"I like my plan the best. Don't give any money to the insurance companies; give it to the people directly. Let them buy their own health care plan. And we're looking at that, if that can work," he said, without explaining how that idea would work.