Trump Tells Australian PM: ‘You Have Better Health Care Than We Do’

President Donald Trump meets with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull aboard the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier docked in the Hudson River in New York, Thursday, May 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Donald Trump meets with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull aboard the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier docked in the Hudson River in New York, Thursday, May 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo M... President Donald Trump meets with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull aboard the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier docked in the Hudson River in New York, Thursday, May 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) MORE LESS
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During a meeting Thursday night with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, President Donald Trump praised Australia’s universal health care system.

He made the comments while insisting that Republicans are “united” in their push to repeal Obamacare and praising the legislation passed by the House on Thursday.

“It’s a very good bill right now. The premiums are going to come down, very substantially. The deductibles are going to come down. It’s going to be fantastic health care. Right now Obamacare is failing. We have a failing health care,” Trump said. “I shouldn’t say this to our great gentleman and my friend from Australia, because you have better health care than we do.”

Australia has a universal, government-funded health care system called Medicare. Australians are able to go to the hospital and see doctors free of charge under the system, but citizens there must purchase private insurance for some medical services. The system is partially funded by taxes, including an additional tax on wealthy Australians who do not have private health insurance.

The legislation passed by House Republicans on Thursday, meanwhile, makes major cuts to Medicaid and an analysis of the original bill by the Congressional Budget Office in March projected that the bill would cost 24 million people their health insurance within ten years.

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