Channel 9 investigates what Trump's future presidency means for Obamacare

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has called Obamacare "a disaster," "the big lie," and "a catastrophe."

He repeatedly promised to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.  He didn't mention Obamacare in his victory speech, but did include it in his 100-day action plan.

It could have a sweeping impact on the more than 20 million Americans using the program.

But even though Republicans will control the White House and Congress, repealing the ACA is easier said than done.

Trump would need 60 senators to sign off on repealing it.  National reports suggest that's unlikely.  But it is likely Congress will still perform major surgery on the program, doing away with things like subsidies for middle-income Americans to buy their own insurance and the tax penalty for refusing insurance altogether.

Lawmakers may have a harder time getting rid of certain provisions than others. For example, rules that force insurers to cover young adults on their parents' policies and to sell policies to people regardless of their health histories would be difficult to remove.

April Potts is a nurse and wants to make sure people with little or no insurance can get health care so small problems don't become big ones.

"We don't want sick people out here, and then we have an increase, basically events, people dying, and they could have gotten services," she said.

Potts wants to make sure there's "something" in place for the under-insured and uninsured.

For Trump, that would be more health savings accounts, more tax breaks on medical bills and the ability to buy insurance in other states.

"You must get rid of the boundaries between the states so that we have competition," he said on the campaign trail.

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