Trump Promises Special Congressional Session to End Obamacare

Donald Trump promised Tuesday to begin working right away if he is elected president to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The Republican presidential candidate told a crowd of supporters in Valley Forge, Pa., he will ask Congress for a special session to immediately end the reform law.

"When we win on Nov. 8, and elect a Republican Congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare," he said. "We have to do it. I will ask Congress to convene a special session so we can repeal and replace, and it will be such an honor for me, for you, and for everybody in this country because Obamacare has to be replaced, and we will do it, and we will do it very, very quickly. It's a catastrophe."

President Barack Obama had said if people like their plans and their doctors, they can keep them, Trump continued, and that "may go down as one of the great political lies of the century."

"Even the skeptical Democrats believed him, and approved the legislation," said Trump, who was in the historic Pennsylvania community with running mate Mike Pence, who was introduced on stage by former GOP candidate Ben Carson.

The Affordable Care Act was passed, Trump said, but people had not read the 2,700-page bill, and to this day, "nobody understands it."

"The Obama administration has just announced massive double-digit and triple-digit Obamacare premium hikes everywhere, all throughout the country," said Trump, giving his speech as the nation's open enrollment period began. "Here in Pennsylvania, premiums are going to increase more than 60 percent, and that's nothing compared what will happen in the future. Of course in the future, if I'm president, there won't be Obamacare, so you don't have to worry about it."

But if Obamacare remains, parents will not have enough money "to pay their bills or get medicine for their kids," Trump said.

In Arizona, for example, premiums will go "even higher than 116 percent" and other states will see increases from 60 percent to 90 percent, deductibles of up to $12,000 to even $15,000.

"In other words, your healthcare won't even be usable," Trump said. "Paying all this money, you won't even get to use it. People all across the country are devastated. In many instances their healthcare costs are more than their mortgage costs or their rent, which by the way is a first in American history. This is particularly unfair to millennials, and younger Americans generally, who will be totally crushed by massive healthcare costs before they even get started on their journey through life."

Trump said his campaign's replacement plan includes "health savings accounts, a nationwide insurance market where you can purchase across state lines and letting states manage Medicaid dollars," for an affordable plan where "parents can make the healthcare decisions that they really want to make for their families. It will be a much better healthcare at a much less cost."

Pence, meanwhile, pointed out that back in 2009 and 2010, he was the leader of a House Republican conference fighting against Obamacare, and "Republicans knew it for what it was, we called it out, and that's the reason why I'm proud to say not one single Republican in the House or Senate voted for Obamacare.

"Every single one opposed it. And I'm also proud that since 2010 Republicans in Congress have been united and continue to work each and every day to replace Obamacare with free market healthcare solutions that will work for the American people."

Before Obamacare got its nickname, it was called "Hillarycare," Pence said, and both Obama and Democratic nominee made promises that were not kept.

"The truth is premiums for employer plans have gone up by almost $5,000 since President Obama took office and last week the Obama administration announced, and this is almost breath-taking to think about it, the Obama administration announced that the average premiums under Obamacare exchanges are going to go up 25 percent on average across the country."

"Most heartbreaking of all, 110,000 households will see rates spike drastically with absolutely no help from the government," Pence said. "You know, I remember back in the days in Congress, the very day this bill passed, you remember, Nancy Pelosi went to the floor of the Congress, quote, "'We have to pass the bill so we can find out what's in it.' Well, we found out, and it's each worse than we thought."

Clinton, Pence said, plans to introduce a single payer plan into the system to provide more government-run health insurance.

"She actually went to Canada and gave a speech that came out not too long ago," Pence said. "She told Canadians and business groups that she wanted to get, and I'm quoting, 'Universal healthcare coverage like you have here in Canada.' Well, we don't want the socialized health care they have in Canada, we want American solutions."