Obama told Trump: Take credit for Obamacare and change the name, I just want people to have healthcare

Barack Obama says he told Donald Trump there was a simple way he could take credit for the former president’s landmark health care legislation upon entering the White House: stamp his own name on it.

Mr Obama revealed details about his conversations with Mr Trump during a question and answer session with Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez at a fundraising event in Los Angeles on Thursday night. “I said to the incoming president, 'Just change the name and claim that you made these wonderful changes'," he said.

The former president joked about how he would have congratulated Mr Trump on renaming the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, and claiming it as his own gift to the American public. “I would be like, you go!” he said, laughing.

Along the 2016 campaign trail, Mr Trump railed against the Affordable Care Act, which expanded health care to millions and closed loopholes allowing insurance companies to reject patients with pre-existing conditions.

But Mr Obama said his decision to fight for better health care in his first term was not about ego or having his name attached to major legislation.

“The idea that I somehow took on health care just because I thought it was fun or it would somehow burnish my legacy is nuts,” he continued. ”Because we knew going in in 2008 that every president since Teddy Roosevelt had failed to do what every other advanced democracy in the world has done.”

Instead of taking credit for the Affordable Care Act, Mr Trump repeatedly attempted to scrap the bill and replace it with his own version of a more conservative approach to health care access. Despite controlling all branches of government, however, the Republican party was unable to garner enough support to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Mr Obama has slowly reemerged as a voice of the Democratic party under Mr Trump, only speaking out against the current president during a handful of occasions.

More often, his statements are directed towards concerned Americans who fear the country is heading in the wrong direction since the end of his tenure in the Oval Office.

“If what you are doing requires no sacrifice at all, then you can do more,” Mr Obama said Thursday night.

“If you are one of these folks who is watching cable news at your cocktail parties with your friends and you are saying 'civilization is collapsing' and you are nervous and worried, but that is not where you are putting all your time, energy and money, then either you don't actually think civilization is collapsing ... or you are not pushing yourself hard enough and I would push harder.”