Jonathan Cohn reports for the Huffington Post on what Donald Trump claims is his health insurance proposal for Americans. Trump’s proposal would effectively end the Affordable Care Act and offer no viable alternative; it could turn Medicare into a voucher program that drives up costs for older adults and people with disabilities.
Trump is proposing “less expensive” health coverage than the Affordable Care Act, which effectively would enable insurers to sell junk coverage that won’t meet people’s needs. Trump also would once again allow insurers to stop covering people with pre-existing conditions. And, he would eliminate Medicare’s authority to negotiate prescription drug prices.
Last November, Trump wrote: “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives.” Don’t hold your breath.
While Trump no longer talks of “repealing” the Affordable Care Act, his message is otherwise the same. He knows that Americans don’t want him to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and that Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives and the presidency in part because of their threat to repeal the ACA. Forty-five million Americans now rely on the Affordable Care Act for their health care coverage.
Not surprisingly, Ronald Brownstein writes for the Atlantic that health care could be a winning issue for the Democrats. It is one major issue that voters trust Biden to address better than Trump. The Republican Study Committee, which represents 80 percent of the House Republicans, has recently said that it would repeal the ACA and restructure Medicare.
Today less than eight percent of the US population is uninsured as a result of the Affordable Care Act. While that still leaves nearly 30 million Americans without health care coverage, that number is lower than in years past.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Biden brought down the price of insulin significantly; a Trump presidency could undo that
- Drug prices: Biden v. Trump
- Up to 4 million will be uninsured if Medicare eligibility age raised to 67
- House Republicans call for major cuts to Social Security and Medicare
- Trump Executive Order will drive up people’s Medicare costs
