4 January 2017, 15:33 GMT
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The first big fight of the new US Congress will be over healthcare, with Democrats preparing to battle Republican plans to not only repeal the health insurance law known as Obamacare, but also target the he nation’s entire healthcare system, US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a news conference on Wednesday.
"Republicans are plotting and soon will be executing a full-scale assault on the three pillars that support the American healthcare system: the Affordable Care Act [Obamacare], Medicare and Medicaid," Schumer stated.
Medicaid provides care for the poor while Medicare is available to everyone who reaches the age of 65.
"The Republican plan to cut health care wouldn’t make ‘America great again’," Schumer said, using President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign slogan. "It would make America sick again."
Republicans have yet to detail plans for Medicare or Medicaid.
Earlier on Wednesday, however, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said the Obama transition team is preparing a series of executive orders that will likely leave many features of Obamacare in place as Congress attempts to devise a new healthcare system.
