Republicans 'to begin working to repeal Obamacare' after Donald Trump wins US election

President-elect: Donald Trump campaigned to repeal Obamacare
Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla / Staff
Fiona Simpson9 November 2016

Republicans will soon begin working to repeal Obamacare following Donald Trump’s shock US election win, it has emerged.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that repealing the health insurance system, which has guaranteed care to millions of people, was "pretty high item on the agenda" for the America’s new Congress.

He branded the scheme the "single worst piece of legislation" from the first two years of Barack Obama's administration.

The President-elect made the repealing of Obamacare central to his election campaign and claimed he would look to carry it through quickly after he takes office.

US President Donald Trump (Getty)
AFP/Getty Images

Some 11 million Americans are now enrolled in state or federal marketplace insurance plans created under Obama's 2010 law.

Roughly 15 million more have received coverage through Medicaid, the U.S. healthcare program for the poor.

Republicans in Congress have tried 60 times to repeal Obamacare since it was passed and then upheld by the US Supreme Court in 2012, but have failed.

Mr Trump stormed to victory earlier today after the tightest race to the White House in history.

Barack Obama: The President launched the scheme in 2010 
AP

As the billionaire businessman won polls in crucial swing states including Florida, Ohio and North Carolina the result began to look bleak for Democratic voters.

Defying pollsters, analysts and even leaders of his own Republican Party, the outspoken outsider passed the finishing line of 270 electoral college votes needed to become the 45th President of the United States.

A Trump win in Pennsylvania gave him 274 votes in the electoral college. With results still being counted in some states, Mr Trump was also winning the popular vote by 1 per cent.

In his victory speech, the billionaire businessman paid tribute to the Democratic candidate after months of lambasting her as “Crooked Hillary” and offered an olive branch to his critics.

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