Donald Trump's running mate Mike Pence compares Obamacare to exploding smartphone

Donald Trump's VP running mate Mike Pence has slammed Obamacare, comparing it to an exploding smartphone amid discussions on the controversial topic.

Trump's campaign team has honed in on the issue of Obamacare over the past few weeks, reiterating statements made by the GOP presidential nominee throughout his campaign that he would scrap it immediately on taking office.

And Trump's running mate didn't hold back when talking about the healthcare plan at a rally in Ohio, mocking US president Barack Obama's recent description of the programme as a new phone with a few bugs that you fix rather than pull of the market.

"What a coincidence, Mr. President, because that's exactly what we're going to do with ObamaCare," The Hill reported Pence as saying on Tuesday 25 October, likening the healthcare programme to the exploding Samsung Note 7s that were recently discontinued.

"We're going to pull it off the market."

His comments came as Trump also took aim at Obamacare – which his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton has promised to continue and improve – telling his supporters "it's over for Obamacare".

The GOP nominee has proposed repealing Obamacare, allowing health insurance to be sold across state lines and allow people to fully deduct insurance premiums from their tax returns.

Given the acknowledged issues with Obamacare, which both sides of the house agree needs tweaking, Trump has found a solid issue on which to aim to muster support from conservative voters.

According to the New York Times, Trump's advisers suggested he would be pushing the subject over the next few days of campaigning. Trump kicked off with a rally in Miami on 25 October, in which he said: "this election is going to be about Obamacare," and adding "Obamacare is just blowing up".

There have been reports of price hikes on premiums, which will hit some people using Obamacare, although the raises are lower than initially predicted. However, any price increase does not play well with voters - particularly those who opposed the introduction of the Affordable Care Act.