TRUMP: Obamacare is like Obama - 'when he was here, they didn't like him so much'

President Donald Trump on Monday defended the GOP's replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act, comparing Obamacare increasing popularity to the president after whom it is named.

"So the press is making it look so wonderful, so if we end it everyone is going to say, 'Oh remember how great Obamacare used to be? Remember how onderful it used to be? It was so great,'" Trump said.

"It's a little bit like President Obama: when he left people liked him, when he was here people didn't like him so much. That's the way life goes, that's human nature."

Recent polls have shown Obamacare hitting its highest popularity point ever, while appetite for repeal has shrunk. This is similar to Obama's approval ratings, which hit their highest levels in his last few months in office.

The president also reiterated his talking point that pushing the American Health Care Act, the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, is not the best political choice for Republicans.

"And the Republicans are frankly putting themselves in a very bad position - I tell this to [HHS Secretary] Tom Price all the time - about repealing Obamacare because people aren't going to see the truly devastating effects of Obamacare," Trump said. "They're not going to see the devastation in '17 and '18 and '19 - it'll be gone by then."

Additionally, Trump touted the AHCA as a way to unleash creativity among insurers in the types of plans they offer.

"You'll have plans that no one is even thinking of today," Trump said. "We will have plans that today no one is even thinking about because the market is going to enforce that with millions and millions of people wanting healthcare."

Trump also promised that the plan will "bring down the cost of care," but warned that it would "take a little while to get there" as the plan gets enacted.

The meeting was held with a group of average Americans who had been hurt by increasing costs of Obamacare, as Trump and Republicans try to build support for the AHCA after early criticisms from across the political spectrum.