Trump kicks off healthcare speech by erroneously saying Obamacare has been in place for '17 years'

Advertisement

President Donald Trump addressed what the White House referred to as "Obamacare victims" during a healthcare speech on Monday, erroneously saying that the former president's signature legislation had been in place "for 17 years."

Advertisement

"For the past 17 years, Obamacare has wreaked havoc on the lives of innocent, hard-working Americans," Trump said.

The law has in fact been in place for seven years.

MSNBC immediately fact-checked the error during their broadcast of the speech.

Trump said that "every pledge" of the law formally known as the Affordable Care Act "turned out to be a lie."

Advertisement

"It was a big fat ugly lie," Trump said.

He said that Obamacare's "lies" have caused "nothing but pain."

During his statement, Trump has repeatedly slammed Republicans in Congress for not yet repealing and replacing the law.