Skip to main content
Monday, November 2, 2026Nov 2

This story is free to read.

Is ‘Obamacare’ repeal dead — or a legislative zombie?

In this March 29, 2017, photo, President Donald Trump speaks at a women's empowerment panel in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare is dead. Well, maybe the timing just isn’t right yet. Hey, this will be easy! This is never-say-die Washington, where big legislative proposals that are in the casket one day suddenly show signs of a shallow pulse the next. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In this March 29, 2017, photo, President Donald Trump speaks at a women's empowerment panel in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare is dead. Well, maybe the timing just isn’t right yet. Hey, this will be easy! This is never-say-die Washington, where big legislative proposals that are in the casket one day suddenly show signs of a shallow pulse the next. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) In this March 29, 2017, photo, President Donald Trump speaks at a women's empowerment panel in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare is dead. Well, maybe the timing just isn’t right yet. Hey, this will be easy! This is never-say-die Washington, where big legislative proposals that are in the casket one day suddenly show signs of a shallow pulse the next. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s plan to kill Obamacare died last week. Or maybe it didn’t.

In never-say-die Washington, big legislative proposals that are in the casket one day can show signs of a pulse the next.

The repeal effort appears to have zombie status – somewhere between dead and alive.

It’s a common condition in the capital, where politicians who invest enormous political capital in one proposal or another are loath to let go.

Last week, the White House said Trump had given his all to the repeal effort and was ready to move on.

This week, he revived talk about doing a deal on health care.

But there was little expectation that a concrete repeal effort would be back in play any time soon.