Donald Trump will consider 'amending' Obamacare NOT repealing it after plea from Obama himself at Oval Office meeting

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President-elect Donald Trump said he will consider an 'amended' version of President Barack Obama's signature health care law - a softening of his position after repeatedly vowing on the campaign trail that he would repeal the measure.

Trump explained in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday that the shift came after White House talks Thursday with Obama, who asked him to consider preserving parts of the Affordable Care Act.

'Either Obamacare will be amended, or repealed and replaced,' Trump told the newspaper. 

'I told him I will look at his suggestions, and out of respect, I will do that.'

Plea: President-elect Trump said that he had listened to President Obama's request to consider preserving parts of the Affordable Care Act

Consideration: The president-elect said that 'out of respect' he would look at preserving elements of Obamacare - meaning he may not repeal it in its entirety

Sitting down: The entire First Family in waiting was interviewed by Lesley Stahl for 60 Minutes on CBS on Sunday evening

Family affair: President-elect Trump was interviewed by Lesley Stahl alongside First Lady in waiting Melania, his adult children Ivanka, Eric, Donald Jr - all of whom are vice-president of his transition team - and Tiffany

The First Family elect also sat down for a 60 Minutes interview which will air on Sunday.

Donald Jr, Eric, Tiffany, Melania and Ivanka - wearing a $1,595 Michael Kors dress - sat down for a chat with Lesley Stahl for what will be there first interview, as a family, since Trump's victory. 

During the interview, Trump praised the Clinton family and revealed both Hillary and Bill phoned him in the hours after the results came in.

'So, Hillary called, and it was a lovely call, and it was a tough call for her, I mean, I can imagine. Tougher for her than it would have been for me. I mean, for me, it would have been very, very difficult. 

'She couldn't have been nicer. She just said, 'Congratulations, Donald, well done.'And I said, 'I want to thank you very much; you were a great competitor.' She is very strong and very smart.'

Bill Clinton, Trump said, 'couldn't have been more gracious. He said it was an amazing run. One of the most amazing he's ever seen. He was very, very, really, very nice.'

Trump's repeated attacks on the law were a central focus of his campaign, during which he used it to needle rival Hillary Clinton as insurance premiums rose for some enrollees, especially in battleground states.

But, while the ACA has faced unanimous Republican opposition since its enactment in 2010, the question of they could replace it has remained unanswered. 

About 20 million Americans have gained health insurance under the law, reducing the share of the public without coverage to below 10 percent, the lowest level recorded.

According to The Journal, Trump said he favored maintaining a prohibition on insurance companies denying consumers coverage based due to so-called pre-existing conditions. 

Before the law took effect, insurers had been able to refuse to cover people who had previously suffered almost any illness.

Trump sits across from CBS News, 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl 

Trump also said he was not opposed to requiring insurers to allow children to remain on their parents' insurance policies until the age of 26, a key Obamacare tenet.

Republican lawmakers have previously said they favor such policies. 

Congressman Chris Collins, who was named this afternoon to Trump's transition team, told CNN this morning that Americans' Obamacare plans would remain intact through the end of next year.

'Lets face it it'll be a transition. You don't cut it off on a Tuesday and on Wednesday say here's the new plan,' he said. 'For the year of 2017, we're not going to be pulling the rug out from anyone.'

He said it would take time for Republicans to cobble together a replacement package.

'The replacing piece, we have replacement ideas. We're going to have to make sure we run that through the administration. That's going to take longer,' he said after after promising that the Republican-led Congress could nix some parts of the bill in the first 100 days of Trump's administration.

Big day in Trumpland: Ivanka Trump was named as one of the vice-presidents of the transition team

Trump was joined by his grandson, Donald Trump III (left) as they filmed the segment 

Among those provisions Collins said Congress would immediately repeal were a tax on medical devices that helps pay for the plan, a provision requiring employers to provide Obamacare to employees who work 30 hours or more, the mandate for employers to provide coverage, and a mandate for employees to obtain some type of coverage. 

The law is a flagship achievement of Obama's presidency and he vetoed Republican legislation last year which would have gutted central provisions of it, such as eliminating programs and subsidies that ensure coverage for poor and lower income Americans.

The Congressional Budget Office found in 2015 that the Republican measure would have increased the number of people without insurance by 22 million, a large share of whom would be children. 

The measure would have reduced government spending in the short term but resulted in a budgetary drain beginning in 2026.

Trump called Obama's law a 'catastrophe' on the campaign trail and spent a considerable amount of time railing against the president. 

He's had nothing but positive things to say about Obama since winning higher office. Trump told reporters from the Oval Office on Thursday that Obama is a 'very good man.' 

Even Hillary Clinton may end up with a reprieve from President Trump. Rudy Giuliani, a possible pick for attorney general and vice chair of the transition as of today, said Thursday that Trump may decide to move on from her now that the election is over

Later in the day he graciously thanked the first family for having him to the White House with his advisers and wife Melania. 

Trump told the Journal Friday, 'It's different now.'

Even Hillary Clinton may end up with a reprieve from President Trump. 

The Republican's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said this week that she hadn't spoken to her boss about his promise to appoint a special prosecutor to review the former secretary of state's email case.   

Rudy Giuliani, a possible pick for attorney general and vice chair of the transition as of today, said Thursday that Trump may decide to move on from her post election.

'One is we try to get over the anger and everything else about an election after it's over and put it behind us,' Giuliani said. 'And I don't like to see America become a country in which we prosecute people about politics.' 

Trump himself told the Wall Street Journal today, 'It's not something I've given a lot of thought, because I want to solve health care, jobs, border control, tax reform.'

The president-elect also revealed in the interview that he's heard from many world leaders - but not Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his a 'beautiful' letter, Trump said. They will talk over the phone soon, he added.