Trump claims "everybody" has better health care than Americans
President Donald Trump on Friday tweeted that "everybody" has better health care than Americans do under Obamacare, doubling down on a comment he made Thursday night that Australia — which has universal coverage — has a better health care system.
Mr. Trump sent the tweet shortly after Sarah Huckabee Sanders, deputy White House press secretary, said in the daily briefing that Mr. Trump was simply complimenting Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Thursday night in Manhattan when he said Australia has a better health care system. She added, "What works in Australia may not work in the United States."
Mr. Trump's remarks come after the House on Thursday afternoon passed a bill repealing and replacing large chunks of Obamacare.
But the president, tweeting while on a trip to his private club in Bedminster, New Jersey, also claimed that "everybody" has better health care in the midst of serious health crises in other countries. Venezuela, for instance, is suffering from a severe shortage of basic medicine and usable hospital beds, as the country faces an economic meltdown causing joblessness and starvation. Countries with "better health care" would also seem to necessarily entail nations with the kind of single-payer system conservatives abhor — like Canada.
The president, whose statements about the details of the House GOP plan have been questioned, has continued to deride Obamacare. In an interview that aired Sunday with CBS News' "Face The Nation" host John Dickerson, for instance, Mr. Trump also harped on how Obamacare is "dead" and "doesn't work," before eventually dismissing claims that the GOP bill would jeopardize coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
The House GOP's health care bill faces an uncertain future in the U.S. Senate, where senators have indicated they may make significant changes.
