Ryan opposes Trump working with Democrats on healthcare

[March 30, 2017]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, said he does not want President Donald Trump to work with Democrats on new legislation for revamping the country's health insurance system, commonly called Obamacare.

In an interview with "CBS This Morning" that will air on Thursday, Ryan said he fears the Republican Party, which failed last week to come together and agree on a healthcare overhaul, is pushing the president to the other side of the aisle so he can make good on campaign promises to redo Obamacare.

"I don't want that to happen," Ryan said, referring to Trump's offer to work with Democrats.

Carrying out those reforms with Democrats is "hardly a conservative thing," Ryan said, according to interview excerpts released on Wednesday. "I don’t want government running health care. The government shouldn’t tell you what you must do with your life, with your healthcare," he said.

On Tuesday, Trump told senators attending a White House reception that he expected lawmakers to reach a deal "very quickly" on healthcare, but he did not offer specifics.

"I think it's going to happen because we've all been promising - Democrat, Republican - we've all been promising that to the American people," he said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan speaks during his news conference after Republicans pulled the American Health Care Act. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Trump said after the failure of the Republican plan last week that Democrats, none of whom supported the bill, would be willing to negotiate new healthcare legislation because Obamacare is destined to "explode."

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Eric Beech; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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