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Van Hollen: 'Obamacare Is Not Hurting People'

July 31, 2017

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said Monday that the Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act would hurt the American people, while the ACA is not "hurting people."

Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, appeared on CNN's "New Day" to discuss the ongoing health care debate.

Host Alisyn Camerota started the segment by quoting President Donald Trump's Monday morning tweet that said, "ObamaCare is hurting people."

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/891996053611917312

"Let's start with that question the president poses one more time, 'If Obamacare is hurting people, why shouldn't it hurt the insurance companies and why should Congress not be paying what the public pays?'" Camerota said. "What is the answer to that?"

"Well, first of all, Obamacare is not hurting people," Van Hollen responded. "In fact, what would have really hurt people was if we would have passed Trumpcare."

Van Hollen began to explain how the GOP replacement would have failed, but was cut off by Camerota.

"Right, but you know not everyone is delighted with Obamacare and people have grave reservations about it," Camerota said.

"Alisyn, nobody has said it's perfect," Van Hollen said. "We've said from the very beginning, we need to improve the exchanges."

The senator then went on to list what needs to be improved and how it can be done.

"The first order of business is for the president to stop trying to sabotage the exchanges. There are a couple of things totally within the power of the Trump administration," Van Hollen said.