--- title: Donald Trump Expected a Health Care Bill As Soon As He Won description: President Donald Trump says that he expected a health care bill to be waiting on his desk upon arriving to the White House canonical: https://time.com/4950796/donald-trump-health-care-bill-graham-cassidy/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-20T22:23:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:52:39.686Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Expected a Health Care Bill on His Desk As Soon as He Got Into Office og:description: The President thinks the revised GOP bill has "a very good chance" of passing og:url: https://time.com/4950796/donald-trump-health-care-bill-graham-cassidy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8d3c2e3fba06d38/6988dea7e76ad20ddf62f3dc/donald-trump-un-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: US-EGYPT-DIPLOMACY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Expected a Health Care Bill on His Desk As Soon as He Got Into Office twitter:description: The President thinks the revised GOP bill has "a very good chance" of passing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8d3c2e3fba06d38/6988dea7e76ad20ddf62f3dc/donald-trump-un-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says He Expected a Health Care Bill on His Desk As Soon as He Got Into Office > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c711344a-f805-46ea-8922-1e9900230742&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Says He Expected a Health Care Bill on His Desk As Soon as He Got Into Office [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Says He Expected a Health Care Bill on His Desk As Soon as He Got Into Office](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CT7WGTwo.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2017-09-20. President Donald Trump says that he expected a health care bill to be waiting on his desk upon arriving to the White House for the first time in office._ by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Sep 20, 2017 10:23 PM UTC President Donald Trump says that he expected a health care bill to be waiting on his desk upon arriving to the White House for the first time in office. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Sep 20, 2017 10:23 PM UTC [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4949877/donald-trump-emmanuel-macron-united-nations/) says that he expected a health care bill to be waiting on his desk upon arriving to the White House for the first time in office. “I thought that when I won I would go to the Oval Office, sit down at my desk, and there would be a health care bill on my desk, to be honest,” Trump told reporters in New York City Wednesday, [according to Reuters. ](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-trump/trump-says-latest-obamacare-repeal-plan-has-very-good-chance-idUSKCN1BV2Z3?il=0) “And it hasn’t worked out that way,” Trump added. “And I think a lot of Republicans are embarrassed by it.” Trump was talking up the latest iteration of the Republican health care bill, which he said has “a very good chance” of passing in the Senate. “I think there’s tremendous support for it. I think it’s actually much better than the previous shot,” Trump said of the legislation intended to repeal and replace Obamacare. “We think this has a very good chance. At some point the Senate is going to be forced to make a deal. They’re just about at that point right now.” Wednesday’s remarks are not the first time Trump’s understanding of health care policy did not live up to his expectations. At a bipartisan governors meeting in February, [he said that](http://time.com/4684068/donald-trump-health-care-reform-complicated/) “nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” “I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject,” the President remarked at the time. The GOP’s revised health care plan, dubbed the [“Graham-Cassidy” bill](http://time.com/4944913/jeb-bush-the-graham-cassidy-proposal-is-better-than-kasich-hickenlooper/) after two of its authors, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), has a Sept. 30 deadline to vote. The Senate is expected to vote on the proposed legislation next week. ## Transcript I believe that Grim Cassidy really will do it the right way and it is doing it the right way. It is tremendously important for republicans. Certainly we're at 47 or 48 already senators and a lot of others very positively. I think there's tremendous support for it I think it's actually much better than previous shot which was, very sadly, a letdown but, again, you've been hearing about the appeal and the price for seven years to have a chance. I though that when I won I would go to the Oval office, sit down at my desk and there would be a health care bill on my desk, to be honest. And it hasn't worked out that way. And I think a lot of Republicans are embarrassed by it. But I have to tell you, I think they're gonna do a great job. If this happens, it will be a great thing for the country. Obamacare is a disaster. It's a wreck, it's a train wreck and it's only getting worse. And I must be honest with you. Whether it happens or not, something's going to happen and it's gonna be positive because, frankly, Obamacare cannot make it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4950796/donald-trump-health-care-bill-graham-cassidy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4950796/donald-trump-health-care-bill-graham-cassidy/"},"headline":"President Trump Says He Expected a Health Care Bill on His Desk As Soon as He Got Into Office","datePublished":"2017-09-20T22:23:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:52:39.686Z","description":"\"It hasn’t worked out that way,\" he remarked shortly after","url":"https://time.com/4950796/donald-trump-health-care-bill-graham-cassidy/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8d3c2e3fba06d38/6988dea7e76ad20ddf62f3dc/donald-trump-un-health-care.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/bltb8d3c2e3fba06d38/6988dea7e76ad20ddf62f3dc/donald-trump-un-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-EGYPT-DIPLOMACY","caption":"US-EGYPT-DIPLOMACY","creditText":"BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI—AFP/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/4950796/donald-trump-health-care-bill-graham-cassidy/","name":"President Trump Says He Expected a Health Care Bill on His Desk As Soon as He Got Into Office"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Says He Expected a Health Care Bill on His Desk As Soon as He Got Into Office","description":"President Donald Trump says that he expected a health care bill to be waiting on his desk upon arriving to the White House for the first time in office.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/CT7WGTwo/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-20T23:24:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CT7WGTwo.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4950796/donald-trump-health-care-bill-graham-cassidy/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4950796/donald-trump-health-care-bill-graham-cassidy/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```