Will Donald Trump Repeal Obamacare? Republicans Divided On Healthcare Reform, Report Says

Donald Trump’s campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare helped him garner the support of Republicans in Washington, D.C., who have repeatedly vowed to shut down President Barack Obama’s major health care overhaul ever since it passed in 2010 without a single Republican vote. How they plan on doing so now that Trump has been elected the next president of the United States, however, remains unclear.

Republicans face unprecedented challenges in fulfilling the goal of dismantling Obamacare. For starters, only 26 percent of Americans support fully repealing the legislation, which has insured 22 million more Americans across the country and includes a series of widely-popular components, including health care coverage on family plans for children 26-years-old and under and disallowing health care providers from rejecting patients with pre-existing conditions.

Moreover, a report published Monday by the Associated Press detailed the several factions of Republicans who are in sharp disagreement over their plans for the fate of Obama’s key program. While some of the most conservative elected officials wish to "pull Obamacare up by the roots as if it never existed," according to GOP consultant Frank Luntz, a number of Republicans are hoping to simply revise some of the legislation’s mandates. Those include the requirement that all Americans must carry healthcare insurance or be subjected to a fine each year.

Trump seemed to soften his harsh rhetoric against Obamacare after being elected Nov. 8, and meeting with Obama for a White House visit two days later. Trump has since stated he’d keep some parts of the bill, citing Obama’s urges to reconsider repealing it entirely.

"Either Obamacare will be amended, or repealed and replaced," Trump said in a post-election interview with Wall Street Journal. "I told [Obama] I will look at his suggestions, and out of respect I will do that."

Kevin Brady, House Ways and Means chairman, said major changes are on the way for Obamacare, though it may take time for the Republican effort to take effect.

"It’s like tax reform," he told the Associated Press. "Unlike Obamacare, which ripped up the individual market, this will be done deliberately, in an appropriate timetable."