--- title: Obamacare Repeal: Donald Trump Says It Will Hurt GOP description: “The Republicans, frankly, are putting themselves in a very bad position," Trump said Monday. canonical: https://time.com/4699818/obamacare-repeal-donald-trump-listening-session/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-13T18:17:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:48:58.372Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says Obamacare Repeal Will Put Republicans 'in a Bad Position' og:description: It will keep people from seeing "truly devastating effects of Obamacare." og:url: https://time.com/4699818/obamacare-repeal-donald-trump-listening-session/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4563c5912398982f/6988be25cd1bba84fe704494/gettyimages-652931192.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5472 og:image:height: 3078 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds Meeting On Healthcare og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says Obamacare Repeal Will Put Republicans 'in a Bad Position' twitter:description: It will keep people from seeing "truly devastating effects of Obamacare." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4563c5912398982f/6988be25cd1bba84fe704494/gettyimages-652931192.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says Obamacare Repeal Will Put Republicans 'in a Bad Position' > 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 [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 13, 2017 6:17 PM UTC  President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence (front-R) attend a meeting on healthcare in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. Pool—Getty Images President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence (front-R) attend a meeting on healthcare in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. Pool—Getty Images Pool—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 13, 2017 6:17 PM UTC President Trump said Republicans are putting themselves in a “very bad position” by [repealing the Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/4699375/gop-health-care-bill-faces-a-key-test/), which has been a signature Republican campaign promise since 2010. “The Republicans, frankly, are putting themselves in a very bad position — I tell this to \[Health and Human Services Secretary\] Tom Price all the time — by repealing Obamacare,” Trump said during a [listening session](https://www.c-span.org/video/?425324-1/president-trump-says-press-making-obamacare-look-good) on the Affordable Care Act at the White House on Monday. Trump said that by repealing the law, Republicans will keep people from seeing the “truly devastating effects of Obamacare.” “They’re not gonna see the devastation. In ’17 and ’18 and ’19, it’ll be gone by then. Whether we do it or not, it’ll be imploded off the map,” the president said of the Affordable Care Act, though he later said waiting to repeal the law would be “the wrong thing for our citizens.” Trump, White House aides, and Republican allies in Congress are in full-blown [sales-pitch mode](http://time.com/4698296/health-care-repeal-replace-obamacare-republican-trumpcare/) trying to promote the GOP plan to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. Trump on Monday was critical of the media’s portrayal of the Affordable Care Act, saying publications are “making it look so wonderful.” The president said there was a similar reaction to President Obama. Trump said people “didn’t like him so much” when he was in office, but loved him when he was on his way out the door. “The fact is Obamacare is a disaster, and by — and I say this to the Republicans all the time — by repealing it, by getting rid of it, by ending it, everyone’s gonna say, ‘Oh, it used to be so great.’ But it wasn’t great,” Trump said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4699818/obamacare-repeal-donald-trump-listening-session/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4699818/obamacare-repeal-donald-trump-listening-session/"},"headline":"President Trump Says Obamacare Repeal Will Put Republicans 'in a Bad Position'","datePublished":"2017-03-13T18:17:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:48:58.372Z","description":"It will keep people from seeing \"truly devastating effects of Obamacare\"","url":"https://time.com/4699818/obamacare-repeal-donald-trump-listening-session/","keywords":["Health Care","White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4563c5912398982f/6988be25cd1bba84fe704494/gettyimages-652931192.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4563c5912398982f/6988be25cd1bba84fe704494/gettyimages-652931192.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Holds Meeting On Healthcare","caption":"President Trump Holds Meeting On Healthcare","creditText":"Pool—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/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4699818/obamacare-repeal-donald-trump-listening-session/","name":"President Trump Says Obamacare Repeal Will Put Republicans 'in a Bad Position'"}}]}] ```