--- title: Donald Trump: Health Care Reform Is Complicated description: President Trump told a meeting of governors that reforming health care is "unbelievably complex" canonical: https://time.com/4684068/donald-trump-health-care-reform-complicated/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-27T16:18:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:32:58.675Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump: 'Nobody Knew Health Care Was Complicated' og:description: He told a bipartisan group of governors. og:url: https://time.com/4684068/donald-trump-health-care-reform-complicated/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbde06a2f564c170c/6988bc252dce01b0fd9ec6f6/donald-trump-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Trump attends National Governors Association meeting at the White House in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump: 'Nobody Knew Health Care Was Complicated' twitter:description: He told a bipartisan group of governors. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbde06a2f564c170c/6988bc252dce01b0fd9ec6f6/donald-trump-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump: 'Nobody Knew Health Care Was Complicated' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 27, 2017 4:18 PM UTC  President Donald Trump smiles at the applause as he arrives for a National Governors Association meeting at the White House on Feb. 27, 2017. President Donald Trump smiles at the applause as he arrives for a National Governors Association meeting at the White House on Feb. 27, 2017.Kevin Lamarque—Reuters by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 27, 2017 4:18 PM UTC President Trump told a meeting of governors that reforming health care is “unbelievably complex,” but pledged that a Republican alternative would be “very good.” Speaking to a bipartisan group in town for the National Governors Association meeting, Trump said that Republicans have to tackle health care reform before they can get to other subjects like [tax reform](http://time.com/4622504/donald-trump-energy-tax-reform/) because of the way the budget process works. Trump said that while tax cuts would be “major and simple,” health care reform was turning out to be difficult. “I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject,” he said. “Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” The Affordable Care Act was passed in March of 2010 after more than a year of debate involving Congress and the White House. Health care accounts for more than [one-sixth of the U.S. economy](https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/nationalhealthaccountshistorical.html). Trump also argued that recent polls which showed the law has become more popular were just a side effect of the American public realizing that the law would be ending soon. A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 48% of Americans have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act, the [most popular it’s been in 60 surveys](http://time.com/4681631/affordable-care-act-obamacare-popularity-poll/) the nonprofit has taken since 2010\. Other polls [show similar results](http://time.com/4639119/obamacare-popularity-rises-poll/). “People hate it, but now they see that the end is coming and they’re saying, ‘Oh, maybe we love it,'” he said. “There’s nothing to love. It’s a disaster folks, OK? 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