Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he is not running to terminate the Affordable Care Act but rather to make it much better, stronger, and far less expensive.

That should sound familiar.

Its the same sentiment the former president expressed repeatedly in 2015 , 2016 and 2017 right before trying to get Republicans to pass repeal legislation that would have left many millions of Americans without insurance while taking away protections for pre-existing conditions.

Tuesdays comments came via a Truth Social post that, in typical Trump fashion, was written mostly in all-caps and rife with mistakes. It attacked crooked Joe Buden and went on to say that the president disinformates and misinformates all the time.

Trump was likely reacting to news that Biden would be speaking about health care during a visit to North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon. During that appearance , Biden warned that Republicans, including Trump, want to take away the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 law known as Obamacare that has brought the percentage of Americans without health insurance to an all-time low.

Donald Trump and MAGA friends are nothing if not persistent, Biden said.

Biden has been trying for the last few weeks to focus voter attention on the Affordable Care Act and the threat to it from Trump in part by highlighting statements Trump has made over the past few months in his bid to get back in the White House.

In November, Trump posted: The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, its not good Healthcare. Im seriously looking at alternatives. Several days later, he posted again: I dont want to terminate Obamacare, I want to replace it with much better healthcare. Obamacare Sucks!!!

These sorts of promises are nothing new for Trump.

In 2015, he vowed on CBS 60 Minutes that I am going to take care of everybody Everybodys going to be taken care of much better than theyre taken care of now.

In 2016, during a Florida campaign rally , he said, Well be terminating Obamacare and well be replacing it with so many different options, but youll have great health care at a fraction, a fraction of the cost, and itll be great.

In 2017, shortly before the inauguration, he told Robert Costa of The Washington Post , Were going to have insurance for everybody.

If theres a difference between those statements and the newer ones, its that lately Trump has avoided using the word repeal. That may have something to do with the fact that the 2017 repeal effort alienated large swaths of the pubilc , helping Democrats to take control of the U.S. House in 2018 and then to defeat Trump in 2020.

Repeal was unpopular because the health care law, for all of its well-documented gaps and glitches , was helping large numbers of Americans to get health care. As a candidate, Trump never proposed anything resembling a serious alternative. As president, he tried desperately to pass GOP leadership bills that would have sent the uninsured rate skyrocketing, according to projections at the time.

Trump has not offered a health care plan during this campaign either. Meanwhile, the Republican Study Committee, which represents the vast majority of House Republicans, has put forward a proposed budget that has key components of repeal and would dramatically reduce spending on government-funded or subsidized health care.