--- title: Donald Trump: All the Ways He Praised GOP Health Care Bill description: President Donald Trump criticized the House-passed health care bill as "mean," but he heaped praise on it in May canonical: https://time.com/4817460/donald-trump-gop-health-care-bill-ahca-mean/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-14T00:37:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:08:02.032Z article:section: Politics og:title: How President Trump Praised the GOP Health Care Bill He Just Called Mean og:description: He told senators it was too "mean" on Tuesday. Here's what he said a month ago og:url: https://time.com/4817460/donald-trump-gop-health-care-bill-ahca-mean/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02f782893db43829/6988d188cd1bba0bbf705a01/170613-paul-ryan-donald-trump-ahca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: 170613-paul-ryan-donald-trump-ahca og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How President Trump Praised the GOP Health Care Bill He Just Called Mean twitter:description: He told senators it was too "mean" on Tuesday. Here's what he said a month ago twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02f782893db43829/6988d188cd1bba0bbf705a01/170613-paul-ryan-donald-trump-ahca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here Are All the Ways President Trump Praised the GOP Health Care Bill He Just Called 'Mean' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Jun 14, 2017 12:37 AM UTC  House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) (2nd-L) listens as U.S. President Donald Trump congratulates House Republicans after they passed legislation aimed at repealing and replacing ObamaCare, during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House, on May 4, 2017 in Washington, DC. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) (2nd-L) listens as U.S. President Donald Trump congratulates House Republicans after they passed legislation aimed at repealing and replacing ObamaCare, during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House, on May 4, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Jun 14, 2017 12:37 AM UTC President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized the House-passed health care bill, [calling it “mean”](http://time.com/4817226/donald-trump-house-health-care-ahca-mean/?xid=homepage) in a meeting with Republican senators and urging them to develop a “more generous” version. But just over a month ago, the president repeatedly praised the GOP-sponsored legislation, describing it as a “great plan” after a vote confirmed the bill’s approval in the House. Here are all the ways Trump lauded the [American Health Care Act](http://time.com/money/4766063/ahca-new-republican-health-care-bill/) in his [speech from the White House Rose Garden](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/04/remarks-president-trump-healthcare-vote-house-representatives) on May 4th: ## Trump said the bill would make insurance prices go down “And I will say this, that as far as I’m concerned, your premiums, they’re going to start to come down,” Trump said during the beginning of his remarks, before later adding: “And I think, most importantly, yes, premiums will be coming down. Yes, deductibles will be coming down. But very importantly, it’s a great plan. And ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.” A forecast from the Congressional Budget Office, an independent, nonpartisan agency, said that premiums will actually [increase over the next few years](http://time.com/4794400/health-care-premiums/) should the bill pass in its current form, and long-term effects will ultimately fall to individual states. ## He said it was good because it would repeal and replace Obamacare “Right now, the insurance companies are fleeing. It’s been a catastrophe. And this is a great plan,” Trump said. “I actually think it will get even better. And this is, make no mistake, this is a repeal and replace of Obamacare. Make no mistake about it. Make no mistake.” ## He said it was great because it was done quickly “And this really helps it. A lot of people said, how come you kept pushing healthcare, knowing how tough it is? Don’t forget, Obamacare took 17 months. Hillary Clinton tried so hard — really valiantly, in all fairness, to get healthcare through. Didn’t happen,” Trump remarked. “We’ve really been doing this for eight weeks, if you think about it. And this is a real plan. This is a great plan. And we had no support from the other party.” ## He said it had “great features” “But we want to brag about the plan, because this plan really — uh oh,” Trump began before he was cut off by a laughing audience. “Well, we may. But we’re just going to talk a little bit about the plan, how good it is, some of the great features.” The CBO in the same aforementioned report said that if the bill goes through in its current condition, [23 million Americans will lose insurance over the next 10 years.](http://time.com/4793159/health-care-bill-cbo-score-republicans/) ## And overall, he said it was good because of the “talent” that helped develop it “So what we have is something very, very incredibly well-crafted. Tell you what, there is a lot of talent standing behind me. An unbelievable amount of talent, that I can tell you. I mean it,” Trump gushed. “But we have an amazing group of people standing behind me,” the president added. “They worked so hard and they worked so long. And when I said, let’s do this, let’s go out, just short little shots for each one of us and let’s say how good this plan is — we don’t have to talk about this unbelievable — wasn’t it unbelievable? So we don’t have to say it again. But it’s going to be an unbelievable victory, actually, when we get it through the Senate.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4817460/donald-trump-gop-health-care-bill-ahca-mean/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4817460/donald-trump-gop-health-care-bill-ahca-mean/"},"headline":"Here Are All the Ways President Trump Praised the GOP Health Care Bill He Just Called 'Mean'","datePublished":"2017-06-14T00:37:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:08:02.032Z","description":"He repeatedly lauded the legislation just over a month ago","url":"https://time.com/4817460/donald-trump-gop-health-care-bill-ahca-mean/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02f782893db43829/6988d188cd1bba0bbf705a01/170613-paul-ryan-donald-trump-ahca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02f782893db43829/6988d188cd1bba0bbf705a01/170613-paul-ryan-donald-trump-ahca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170613-paul-ryan-donald-trump-ahca","caption":"House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) (2nd-L) listens as U.S. President Donald Trump congratulates House Republicans after they passed legislation aimed at repealing and replacing ObamaCare, during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House, on May 4, 2017","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4817460/donald-trump-gop-health-care-bill-ahca-mean/","name":"Here Are All the Ways President Trump Praised the GOP Health Care Bill He Just Called 'Mean'"}}]}] ```