During the much anticipated meeting that took place between US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the ever conservative Trump surprised many when he said that Australia’s health care system is “better” than the US.
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It was especially surprising given the fact the meeting between the two leaders was delayed as Trump was busy lobbying for votes to repeal former President Barrack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, which provided health care coverage for many US residents who otherwise couldn’t afford care in a notoriously expensive system.
However, don’t think that the president is getting on board with universal free healthcare, or anything similar to what Australia has in Medicare. Far from it, as the White House has since clarified.
“The President was complimenting a foreign leader on the operations of their healthcare system. It didn’t mean anything more than that,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a news briefing.
“I think he believes that they have a good healthcare system for Australia. What works in Australia may not work in the United States.”
The president himself said in a tweet on Saturday that “everybody” has better healthcare than the US.
Of course the Australians have better healthcare than we do –everybody does. ObamaCare is dead! But our healthcare will soon be great.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2017
Despite this assurance, many US citizens are worried that they will not be able to afford healthcare under the changes.