Trump's undelivered health care plan

• Meanwhile, Harris has committed to "expanding and strengthening" the ACA and making permanent tax credits that have lowered health care premiums for eligible individuals, according to her New Way Forward policy proposal.

Driving the news: During Tuesday's debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump was asked by ABC moderator Linsey Davis about his previous comments regarding the ACA, also known as Obamacare, and whether he has a plan to replace it.

• "Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was," Trump said. "It's not very good today. And what I said, that if we come up with something, we are working on things, we're going to do it and we're going to replace it."
• He added: "What we will do is we're looking at different plans. If we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people, our population less money and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it."
• Asked in a follow-up whether he has a plan, Trump said: "I have concepts of a plan. I'm not president right now."

What they're saying: "As President Trump said, he will release more details but his overall position on healthcare remains the same: bring down costs and increase the quality of care by improving competition in the market place," Trump campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement.

• "This is a stark contrast to Kamala Harris' support for a socialist government takeover of our healthcare system which would force people off their private plans and result in lower quality care."

Of note: During the debate, Harris pointed to how she had supported private health care while pushing to bolster the ACA, the AJMC notes.

Flashback: As early as 2015, when Trump was a presidential candidate the first time around, he said on that campaign trail that he would repeal Obamacare and "replace with something terrific."

• During his first year in office, Trump said he was close to completing a plan that would provide "insurance for everybody."
• He later altered the timing, promising it would come after the 2020 election. "If we win the House back, keep the Senate and keep the presidency, we'll have a plan that blows away ObamaCare," he said while running for re-election in 2019.
• He repeated that it was coming several times in his last year in office, saying in 2020 before losing re-election, "We're signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health care plan."

Zoom in: Although Republicans had full control of the White House and Congress at the time, their efforts to repeal and replace the ACA ended in 2017 when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered his famous thumbs-down vote on the Senate floor.

• Democrats then made health care a defining issue in the 2018 midterms, and party won back the House majority.

Between the lines: The 2024 Republican Party platform does not contain any reference to repealing the ACA, Dennis Scanlon, a distinguished professor of health policy and administration at Penn State, noted to ABC News.

• "What's been noticeable in this election cycle [is] less discussion about the Affordable Care Act in terms of let's repeal it or get rid of it," Scanlon said.
• "I think last night in the debate, [Trump] basically straddled and said, 'You know, if I can figure out a way to make it better, and we're working on some concepts, we'll do it, but not, that we will get rid of it.' So I think that's just different from what it's been in the last two cycles."

What we're watching: Experts say Trump and his policy advisers could implement a "Most Favored Nation" policy on drug pricing and possibly overhaul Medicaid, Axios' Victoria Knight and Peter Sullivan report (subscription).

• New initiatives like restricting gender-affirming care and potentially promoting new health coverage arrangements as an alternative to the ACA.
• Another Trump term could also bring unpredictability and the possibility of cuts to federal health programs.

Go deeper: Biden's fragile legacy on health care