Obama told Vox editors Ezra Klein and Sarah Kliff that he is getting letters every day from people who are worried that their ability to pay for their own health care or that of loved ones will be taken away if the ACA is repealed.
The president said if a Republican-crafted replacement plan ""works, I'm for it. If it's something that can cover all Americans, makes sure if they have pre-existing conditions they can still get coverage, keeps prescription drugs afford, and encourages preventative measures."
"It it actually works, I will be the first one to say great," Obama said.
But he added, "I suspect that will not happen."
Obama said he believes that is the case because of the expense of health care, which many people are not able to afford without some kind of subsidy to lower their costs.
The ACA offers such subsidies in the form of tax credits to more than 10 million people who buy individual health insurance from government-run Obamacare exchanges. The law also provides funding to states to expand their Medicaid programs to offer coverage to millions of poor people who previously were not eligible for it.
Obamacare also mandates that most Americans have some form of insurance coverage or be subject to a tax penalty.
GOP leaders have talked about removing the subsidies altogether or lessening the total amount spent on them, and have discussed repealing the coverage mandate.
Insurers worry that if people are not compelled to have coverage and don't get help paying for it, the insurers' bottom lines will suffer because their customer pools will skew heavily toward sick people who need insurance rather than healthier people who use fewer medical benefits.
Health-care experts have said that up to 30 million people could lose coverage if the ACA is repealed without a replacement. Experts also have said that if the GOP crafts a replacement, millions will still lose coverage, although less than one 30-million doomsday scenario.
Click here to link to the Vox stream.
