Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.

That was President Donald Trump speaking at the White House Monday, and if anything can encapsulate the dilemma facing Republicans as they haltingly try to keep their campaign promises to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare its that.

The idea that nobody knew health care is complicated is, of course, nonsense as literally anyone whos ever visited a doctor or used health insurance could tell you. But the realization seems to have come belatedly to Trump.

Perhaps Trump will use his address before a joint session of Congress Tuesday to lay out a detailed plan for how to remake the health care system. But the presidents own shifting and contradictory statements about health care reform suggest that he remains unclear about what to do and how much ownership to take of the consequences of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

At a recent meeting with Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), for example, Trump seemed to be swayed by appeals to keep much of the laws coverage expansion in place. The governor drew charts on pieces of paper on the presidents desk outlining the potential costs of repeal, an aide familiar with the exchange told The Huffington Post.

He responded very positively to a number of the ideas I had, Kasich, who used the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid, said on CBS News Face the Nation Sunday.

Trump went over the charts three separate times, and even got his newly installed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on the phone to discuss it further, according to the aide. Other aides had to remind the president that the congressional Republican plans are far less generous, after which Trump expressed preference for Kasichs approach, as The Washington Post reported.

At a separate meeting with a bipartisan group of governors, meanwhile, Trump largely punted on details for his health care plan when pressed by attendees, a source familiar with the session who was not authorized to speak publicly about it told HuffPost. But when Price said that there would be a replacement plan in place about four weeks after repeal was enacted, Trump did chime in, saying it needed to be done in two or three weeks.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) seem to have a better sense of where they want to go with repeal perhaps because they, especially Ryan, have spent more time focusing on the issue.

But these congressional leaders havent been able to bridge the divides in their own skittish caucuses about the timing or scope of the repeal and replace effort. Meanwhile, there has been a groundswell of anger over the prospect of killing the increasingly popular law.

Ryan appears desperate enough to advance Affordable Care Act repeal that hes considering pushing legislation to the floor and essentially daring reluctant and unsatisfied members to vote against it, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The bet is that few Republicans would pass up a chance to damage the Affordable Care Act, lest their supporters see them breaking their promise to do so. This trial balloon didnt soar long: On Monday, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said that he would vote against a forthcoming GOP leadership proposal if, like a version that leaked to Politico last week, it still had elements of an entitlement program.

That underscores Republicans risky bid. Additionally, legislators would have to be on record calling for millions of people to lose health care with no guarantee that the Senate would follow suit, or that Congress as a whole would eventually come up with something better than the Affordable Care Act.