Trump's PPACA replacement plan sounds quite a bit like PPACA

Larry Levitt, a health care expert at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, also saw parallels between Trump's proposals and the ACA.

"At the talking point level, a plan like the ACA has broad political appeal," Levitt said. "It's maybe not so surprising that Donald Trump's talking points sound a bit like the ACA, since the law is rooted in a lot of conservative ideas. His emphasis on it being private and competitive is interesting. In fact, the ACA is a giant bet on a competitive, private health insurance system."

As opposed, that is, to a single-payer, government-run health care plan, which is favored by left-of-center Democrats such Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who's making a strong showing as a presidential contender.

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Broad strokes aside, Trump didn't specify how he would achieve each of the goals he outlined, leaving it unclear whether and how he would depart from the approach under PPACA in some cases. Levitt did detect one potential major difference between Obamacare and a potential Trumpcare: Trump suggested that he wants to let insurers sell across state lines, a far-reaching change from the president's plan, which established state exchanges.

As Obama does in promoting PPACA, Trump emphasized the value of universal coverage. That includes people "at the lower end" of the income spectrum, he said, who won't get "the finest plan" but deserve to be covered. He was unapologetic about his goal to help provide health care for low-income people, even if it costs him the Republican nomination.

"Where I may be different than other people—I want to take care of everybody," the real estate mogul told CNN in the interview. "You have a group of people that aren't able to take care of themselves. I can't even imagine."