SALT LAKE CITY — Followers of Utah politics may have noticed Sen. Orrin Hatch’s tweet this morning.
It’s a statement and video of Hatch talking about the need for Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
"I believe that we should repeal Obamacare, including the taxes, and the work to replace should also begin immediately,” Hatch says in the tweet, which leads to a one-minute video.
"I believe that we should repeal Obamacare, including the taxes, and the work to replace should also begin immediately." #utpol #tcot pic.twitter.com/oonOyVu8JJ
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) February 9, 2017
Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock told the Deseret News the tweet comes from a speech Hatch gave this week (you can read the full transcript here) and is meant to highlight the speech.
"You’ll see that we tweet excerpts from speeches for weeks after they take place to highlight important points," Whitlock said.
Hatch previously commented on Obamacare at the end of January, when he told CNN that he doesn’t think President Donald Trump has an Obamacare replacement plan.
"No. That's not my understanding," Hatch told CNN. "I don't know what they have in mind other than they know it isn't going to work."
Hatch, who serves as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has a hand in creating healthcare legislation, told CNN that Congress is trying to work together on a new plan.
"The two leaders of Congress are trying to come together on what we can do on a plan," Hatch told CNN. "I think the White House is kind of molding it and working with us."
Sunday Trump told Fox News that creating a replacement plan will take time:
"It's in the process and maybe it will take untill sometime into next year, but we are certainly going to be in the process. It's very complicated," he said in an interview with Bill O'Reilly.
A poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 49 percent of Americans want to replace Obamacare, US News reported. However, 28 percent want lawmakers to wait until the new plan has been presented before voting on it.
In Utah, about 145,000 people signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act in 2016, which was a 24 percent increase from 2015. Nationally, the increase was closer to 7 percent.