Trump pressed on how he would replace Affordable Care Act during ABC News debate

have long vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare you have failed to accomplish that you now say you're going to keep Obamacare quote unless we can do something much better last month you said quote we're working on it so tonight nine years after you first started running do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is Obamacare was lousy Health Care always was it's not very good today and what I said that if we come up with something and we are working on things we're going to do it and going to replace it but remember this I inherited Obamacare because Democrats wouldn't change it they wouldn't vote for it they were unanimous they wouldn't vote to change it if they would have done that we would have had a much better plan than Obamacare but the Democrats came up they wouldn't vote for it I had a choice to make when I was President do I save it and make it as good as it can be never going to be great or do I let it rot and I felt I had an obligation even though politically it would have been good to just let it rot and let it go away I decided and I told my people the top people and they very good people I have a lot of good people in this that Administration we read about the bad ones we had some real bad ones too and so do they they have really bad ones the difference is they don't get rid of them but let me just explain I had a choice to make do I save it and make it as good as it can be or do I let it rot and I saved it I did the right thing but it's still never going to be great and it's too expensive for people and and what we will do is we're looking at different plans if we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people our population less money and be better health care than Obamacare then I would absolutely do it but until then I'd run it as good as it can be run so just yes or no you still do not have a plan I have concepts of a plan I'm not president right now but if we come up with something I would only change it if we come up with something that's better and less expensive and there are Concepts and options we we have to do that and you'll be hearing about it in the not too distant future vice president Harris in 2017 you supported Bernie Sanders proposal to do away with private insurance and create a government-run Health Care System two years later you proposed a plan that included a private insurance option what is your plan today well first of all I absolutely support and over the last four years as vice president private healthcare options but what we need to do is maintain and grow the affordable care but I I I'll get to that Lindsay I just need to respond to a previous point that the former president has made I've made very clear my position on fracking and then this business about taking everyone's guns away Tim Walls and I are both gun owners we're not taking anybody's guns away so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff as it relates to the Affordable Care Act understand let just look at the history to know where people stand when Donald Trump was President 60 times he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act 60 times I was a Senator at the time when I will never forget the early morning hours when it was up for a vote in the United States Senate and the late great John McCain who you have disparaged as being a you don't like him you said at the time because he got caught he was an American hero the late great John McCain I will never forget that night walked onto the senate floor and said no you don't no you don't no you don't get rid of the Affordable Care Act you have no plan and what the Affordable Care Act has done is eliminate the ability of insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions I don't have to tell the people watching tonight you remember what that was like remember when an insurance company could deny if a child had asthma if someone was a breast cancer survivor if a if a grandparent had diabetes and thankfully as I've vice president and we over the last four years have strengthened the Affordable Care Act we have allowed for the first time Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of you the American people Donald Trump said he was going to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices he never did we did and now we have capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month since I've been Vice President we have capped the cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000 a year and when I am President we will do that for all people understanding that the value I bring to this is that access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it and the plan has to be to strengthen the Affordable Care Act not get rid of it pass in terms of where Donald Trump stands on that I want to move to an issue that's important for a lot you made a mistake at number one John McCain fought Obamacare for 10 years but it wasn't only him it were all of the Democrats that kept it going and you know what we can do much better than Obamacare much less money but she won't improve private insurance for people private medical insurance that's another thing she doesn't want to get people are paying privately for insurance that have worked hard and made money and they want to have private she wants everybody to be on government insurance where you wait six months for an operation that you need immediately president Trump thank you