Trump likes main Obamacare provisions 'very much'
November 11, 2016, 11 minutes ago, From the section US Election 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37953528
Donald Trump called Obamacare "a total disaster" during the campaign
US President-elect Donald Trump has said in an interview he is open to leaving intact key parts of President Barack Obama's healthcare bill.
Mr Trump, who has pledged repeatedly to repeal the 2010 law, signalled he was receptive to a compromise after visiting the White House on Thursday.
He told the Wall Street Journal he favours keeping two pillars of the bill because "I like those very much".
One is a ban on insurers denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
The other provision that the president-elect told the newspaper he favours allows young adults to be insured on their parents' policies.
Mr Trump told the Journal it was his hour-and-a-half meeting with Mr Obama that had made him reconsider his calls for an all-out repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
"I told him I will look at his suggestions, and out of respect, I will do that," the president-elect said at Trump Tower.
"Either Obamacare will be amended, or repealed and replaced."
The interview was published just as Mr Trump shook up his presidential transition team, demoting New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to vice-chairman.
During the election campaign, Mr Trump said the government-run health insurance marketplace was "a total disaster" and "a catastrophe".
"Obamacare is just blowing up," he said only last month, while promising his own plan would deliver "great healthcare at a fraction of the cost".
While running for president, Mr 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About 22 million Americans would be without insurance if the law was repealed.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.
The Republicans have maintained control of the Senate, but they still lack the supermajority they would probably need to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety.
They could starve parts of the bill of funding through a budgetary process called reconciliation.
But this legislative tactic would not be able to affect the provisions requiring insurers to cover children on their parents' policies, or the mandate that medical insurers must sell policies to anyone regardless of their health conditions.
The law has not been without its difficulties.
Obamacare survived a US Supreme Court challenge in June 2015
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".
Unlike in many other western countries, the US does not have a single-payer healthcare system.
Private companies, rather than the US government, provide health insurance for US citizens.
