In an effort to scare Americans away from what they stand to lose if their opponent is elected president in November, former president Trump and vice president Harris have been hammering each other on health insurance.
At the conservative Turning Point Action’s Believers’ Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump made the statement, “She wants to outlaw private health insurance.” “Private health insurance is very common. They would prefer it to remain that way. Wow, that’s incredible.
“He intends to end the Affordable Care Act and take us back to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions,” Harris stated the next day at a fundraising gathering in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Do you all recall what it was? Truly, it was. For children who suffer from asthma. Women who have overcome breast cancer. Diabetes in the elderly.
First things first: Trump and Harris have not updated their statements to reflect their opponent’s current stance on health insurance. Even though he had pledged to dismantle the Affordable Care Act for years, Trump has now stated that he wants to make improvements to it rather than do rid of it. Even though Harris had previously stated her desire to remove private insurance, her plan that she unveiled during her 2020 presidential campaign did include a place for them.
One of the most divisive topics in the most recent elections, on the part of both the president and Congress, has been health insurance. While Trump and Harris have reversed their positions on health insurance, neither has offered a comprehensive policy proposal during this campaign. Please take note that Harris entered the race just over one week ago in response to President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not be seeking reelection. Her policy program is still pending her announcement.
See how their public stances have changed over time.
Private health insurance and Harris
First, we have Trump’s assertion that Harris seeks to eliminate private health insurance. While running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, Harris made it clear at an AWN town hall that she would implement Medicare for All, a government-run health insurance program advocated by Senator Bernie Sanders, by doing away with private health insurance. She was a senator from California at the time. Sanders introduced a plan that would have effectively eliminated the private insurance market; Harris was one of its co-sponsors.
Harris stated at the town hall that private health insurers are driven by profit and that the goal should be universal access to medical care without the hassle of going through insurance companies for approval, paperwork, and any delays that may result. “Well, I don’t know if your insurance company is going to cover this,” the doctor says while you wait for permission. “Who among us hasn’t been there?” Let’s get rid of that altogether. I say, “Let’s go.”
In the midst of the uproar, her adviser and national press secretary swiftly recanted her statement, stating that she was receptive to many approaches to achieving Medicare for All. Moreover, private insurance was a component of her July 2019 strategy.
“As part of this system, we will allow private insurers to offer Medicare plans that adhere to strict Medicare requirements on costs and benefits,” Harris stated in a Medium article about her idea. “Private insurance companies will adhere to the regulations set by Medicare, which includes standards for quality and pricing, rather than the reverse.”
Many more individuals are enrolling in private health plans on the individual market for 2024 as a result of her support of Biden’s initiatives to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, which she has spearheaded since becoming Biden’s vice president.
This week, Harris’s team made it official that the vice president had withdrawn his support for a national health insurance program.
Affordability Care Act and Trump
During his 2016 presidential campaign and first term in office, Trump made it a priority to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, an issue he has long sought to resolve. Unfortunately, no significant efforts were made to overhaul the historic health reform bill, commonly known as Obamacare, even though Republicans were in control of both houses of Congress and the presidency the next year.
In November 2023, the ex-president rekindled the discussion on the law’s destiny by posting on his Truth Social platform that he is “seriously looking at alternatives” and that the Republican Party’s failure to repeal the law “was a low point for them, but we should never give up!”
But Trump’s call worried several Republicans who think the issue will be politically divisive with Americans.
A few days later, Trump clarified that he does not intend to “terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE,” withdrawing his earlier remarks.
Stupid Obamacare!
Despite what dishonest Joe Biden claims everywhere, Trump stated in an April video that he was not running to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a post to Truth Social. We will improve the Affordable Care Act and make it more affordable for you.
Nonetheless, he has not yet unveiled a plan to improve and reduce the cost of the Affordable Care Act.
When asked to reply, Sarafina Chitika, a spokeswoman for Harris’s campaign, brought up Trump’s vow to never stop working to repeal Obamacare.
She made the following statements about Donald Trump: “If he’s elected, he will repeal the Affordable Care Act, rip health care from tens of millions of Americans, eliminate coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions like diabetes or cancer, and kick young people off their parents’ insurance – just like he tried to do multiple times the last time he was in the White House.” Trump is acknowledged as a liar.
When asked for response, the Trump campaign remained silent.
