Obama Calls GOP Healthcare Plan 'Massive Transfer' of Money to Richest Americans

Former US President Barack Obama has harshly criticized the GOP's healthcare bill, calling it a "massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America."

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Republican healthcare bill would be used as a tool to move wealth from working Americans to the rich, Obama said on Thursday.

"The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill. It’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America," Obama wrote in a Facebook statement.

Earlier on Thursday, US Senate Republicans introduced a healthcare measure that aims to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. The new bill is called the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.

The former president stressed that the bill would benefit the drug and insurance industries by giving them significant tax cuts at expense of the middle class. Obama warned that US citizens who have private insurance will encounter increased premiums and deductibles and lose medical coverage for certain conditions.

Furthermore, he expressed hope that senators would reevaluate the consequences of the new measure and consider a more rational approach than "simply undoing something that Democrats did."

The US House of Representatives approved its version of the bill, dubbed the American Health Care Act, on May 4. The Senate vote is expected before June 29.