Donald Trump is facing a backlash from conservatives after vowing to replace Obamacare with his own system.
Posting on his social media platform, the GOP frontrunner attacked Barack Obama's signature domestic policy, which was established as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 and offers U.S. citizens discounts on government-sponsored health insurance plans, calling it "too expensive."
"Obamacare is too expensive, and otherwise, not good healthcare," he said on Monday.
"I will come up with a much better, and less expensive, alternative! People will be happy, not sad!"
But in response, he attracted criticism on X, formerly Twitter, including from self-described conservatives.
Newsweek contacted representatives for Trump by email for comment.
One commentator who supports Trump's GOP rival Ron DeSantis wrote: "Donald Trump said he will replace ObamaCare with his own healthcare plan if elected.
"He could have done that in 2016 and 2017 when he had GOP supermajorities, but he failed.
"We won't need any more wishcasting. We need to elect Ron DeSantis."
Another DeSantis supporter wrote: "Who doesn't remember this lie from before?"
Political author Christopher Zullo said: "Obamacare is reason for pre-existing condition coverage. Obamacare is reason for coverage for college students. Obamacare is reason for subsidies based on need. Obamacare is reason for expanded Medicaid, reduced program costs. Republicans are still trying to dismantle Obamacare."
However, some agreed with him, with one prominent MAGA account Wendy Patterson writing: "Trump plans on stopping the money laundering scheme between the government and hospitals if he's successful at replacing it."
The Republican has been consistently critical of the healthcare policy, pledging to repeal it during his 2016 presidential campaign.
In 2017, a Senate vote to repeal and replace the legislation failed and in 2021, the Supreme Court rejected a Republican appeal backed by the then-Trump administration to invalidate Obamacare.
Last month in another Truth Social post, he wrote: "The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it's not good Healthcare.
"I'm seriously looking at alternatives. We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!"
According to the latest polling by KFF Health Tracking in May 2023, 59 percent of U.S. adults have a favorable opinion about the policy when it is described as the "Affordable Care Act or Obamacare," while 40 percent view the act unfavorably, which suggests Trump may fail to drum up support by attacking it.
For his part, during the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden vowed to expand and strengthen it.
In 2021, he signed two executive orders aimed at restoring healthcare policies that were weakened during the Trump administration regarding the ACA, Medicaid and protections for women's reproductive health.
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Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more
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