by Itunuoluwa Adebo

President Trump praised Australia’s government-funded universal heath-care system, just seconds after praising his party’s efforts to pass a new health-care bill that estimates has said would leave millions uninsured.

“We have a failing health care,I  shouldn’t say this to our great gentleman and my friend from Australia, because you have better health care than we do,”Trump said at a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Manhattan. His comments came hours after Republicans in the House narrowly approved legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act.

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An honor to welcome PM of Australia, @TurnbullMalcolm to America & join him in marking the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. pic.twitter.com/uvkxLWNBpV

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2017

Australia has a government-funded health-care system,”Medicare”, that exists with private insurance. The system is funded in part by taxes, including on the rich.

The approved American Health Care Act the House approved, is yet to be evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office, but it is estimated that an earlier version of the bill would raise premiums for older enrollees and have 24 million fewer people insured.  President Trump and his vice Mike Pence hosted lawmakers in the Rose Garden at the White House to mark the occasion.

Trump didn’t hesitate to praise the bill, “It’s a very good bill right now. Premiums are going to come down substantially, deductibles are going to come down. It’s going to be fantastic health care. Right now Obamacare is failing.”

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