Trump likes main Obamacare provisions 'very much'

US President-elect Donald Trump has said he is open to leaving intact key parts of President Barack Obama's healthcare bill.

Mr Trump, who has pledged to repeal the 2010 law, said he will keep the ban on insurers denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
He told the Wall Street Journal that he also favoured allowing young adults to be insured on their parents' policies.
"I like those very much," Mr Trump said of the two pillars of the bill.
It was a meeting he had with Mr Obama on Thursday that made him reconsider his calls for an all-out replacement of the Affordable Care Act, he told the newspaper.
In a separate interview with CBS, Mr Trump said the parts of Mr Obama's healthcare bill he was "going to try to keep" were "the strongest assets".
He said that while the bill would be repealed and replaced, the changes would provide Americans with "great healthcare for much less money".
He made the statement during an interview with the 60 Minutes programme, which is due to air on Sunday.
Also on Friday Mr Trump put Vice-President-elect Mike Pence in charge of his transition team, replacing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

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Obama’s historic visit to Cuba

President Obama embarked Sunday on a historic trip to Cuba, where a government that has vilified the United States for decades prepared a red carpet welcome.

The three-day trip, the first by a sitting U.S. president in 88 years, is the culmination of a diplomatic opening announced by Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro in December 2014, ending a Cold War-era estrangement that began when the Cuban Revolution ousted a pro-American government in 1959.

Obama, who abandoned a longtime U.S. policy of trying to isolate Cuba, now wants to make his shift irreversible. But major obstacles remain to the full normalization of ties, and the president’s critics at home say the visit is premature. (AP)

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