White House says ‘Trumpcare’ won’t measure up to Obamacare

The White House said Tuesday it’s doubtful that President-elect Donald Trump’s new nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, an outspoken foe of Obamacare, will be able to improve the health insurance program.

Noting that Republican Rep. Tom Price of Georgia is an “ardent opponent” of the Affordable Care Act, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the nominee will need to take direction from Mr. Trump rather than devising his own plan to replace Obamacare.

“With all due respect to Congressman Price, it will be his job to implement the president’s plan, not his own,” Mr. Earnest said. “We’ll see if ’Trumpcare’ measures up.”

The president’s spokesman said the administration has set a “pretty high bar” with Obamacare, and listed five achievements of the program. He said 20 million more Americans now have health insurance, the program has helped to reduce growth in employer-based health insurance premiums by half, that it has provided consumer protections like forbidding women from being charged more than men, that it has helped to extend the solvency of Medicare by 11 years, and it’s protected to reduce federal deficits by $3 trillion over the next 20 years.

“That certainly sets a pretty high bar of evaluating the budget impact” of any GOP proposal, he said.

Still, Mr. Earnest conceded that Obamacare is now on the endangered list of Mr. Obama’s top achievements.

“The progress we’ve made under the Affordable Care Act is at risk, there’s no denying that,” he said.