Trump hedges on campaign pledge after Obama meeting

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he is open to leaving intact key parts of President Barack Obama's healthcare bill, BBC News reports.

Trump, who has pledged to repeal the 2010 law, said he will keep the ban on insurers denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

He told the Wall Street Journal that he also favoured allowing young adults to be insured on their parents' policies. "I like those very much," Trump said of the two pillars of the bill.

It was a meeting he had with Obama on Thursday, November 10 that made him reconsider his calls for an all-out replacement of the Affordable Care Act, he told the newspaper.

In a separate interview with CBS, Trump said the parts of Obama's healthcare bill he was "going to try to keep" were "the strongest assets".

He said that while the bill would be repealed and replaced, the changes would provide Americans with "great healthcare for much less money".

He made the statement during an interview with the 60 Minutes programme, which is due to air on Sunday.

During the election campaign, Trump said the government-run health insurance marketplace was "a total disaster" and "a catastrophe".

While running for president, Trump did not offer much detail on what he envisaged would be Obamacare's replacement.

The Republican's plan included tax-deductible health savings accounts and allowing insurers to sell coverage across state lines.

His apparent change of heart on Friday comes amid a surge in applications to join the plan from Americans possibly fearful it is about to be overturned.

More than 100,000 applicants snapped up Obamacare health insurance on the day after Tuesday's election, this year's biggest sign-up, the Obama administration announced.

About 22 million Americans would be without insurance if the law was repealed.

Congressional Republicans have voted more than 50 times to undo the law.

Though the Republicans have maintained control of the Senate, they cannot repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety because under senate rules, the Democratic minority remain in a position to block the move.

The Republicans could, however, starve parts of the bill of funding through a budgetary process called reconciliation.

The law has not been without its difficulties.

Last month, the Obama administration said the average cost of medical coverage under the bill was expected to rise by 25% next year for those Americans who do not qualify for subsidies.

And about one in five consumers would only be able to pick plans from a single insurer, it added.

Former President Bill Clinton last month called the unsubsidised portion of the law "the craziest thing in the world".

In the U.S. - unlike in many other Western countries - private companies, rather than the government, provide health insurance for most citizens.