The Treasury Department published a report this week noting that nearly 50 million Americans have received health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act over the last decade. A New York Times report noted, “Federal officials said that the findings represent roughly one in seven U.S. residents, a broad swath of the population that underscores the vast, and seemingly irreversible, reach of the 2010 law.”
There’s no denying how impressive the ACA’s recent past has been. There are lingering questions, however, about the ACA’s future — at least if Donald Trump receives a second term.
During the Republican’s debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, ABC News’ Linsey Davis reminded the GOP nominee that he has “long vowed to repeal and replace” the ACA. She then asked, “So tonight, nine years after you first started running, do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is?”
Trump’s answer, not surprisingly, meandered quite a bit and included claims that he “saved” the ACA during his first term — a brazen lie and a shameless attempt to rewrite recent history.
But as part of the same exchange, the former president also said:
Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was. It’s not very good today. And what I said, that if we come up with something, we are working on things, we’re going to do it and we’re going to replace it. … And what we will do is, we’re looking at different plans.
Asked in a follow-up question whether he has a plan or not, Trump replied, “I have concepts of a plan. I’m not president right now.”
Oh my.
First, Trump has had nearly a full decade to come up with a health care plan. All he has to show for it, apparently, are “concepts of a plan” that he continues to keep hidden from the public.
Second, while it’s true that the Republican is “not president right now,” it’s also true that he was president not too long ago, and during his White House tenure, Trump not only failed to come up with a health care plan, he also tried to repeal Obamacare. When those regressive efforts failed, he actively tried to sabotage his own country’s health care system.
But even if we put recent history aside and focus solely on the future, it should matter to voters a great deal that the GOP nominee is still, even now, prepared to “replace” the popular and effective Affordable Care Act. Indeed, the debate was a timely reminder, but it was the latest in a series.
Circling back to our earlier coverage, after his 2020 defeat, Trump’s offensive against the ACA continued. As recently as late last year, for example, the Republican whined that some GOP senators had failed to help him “terminate” the ACA in 2017. “It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!” Trump added.
A month later, the Republican posted a video to his social media platform vowing to “replace” the existing health care system, adding, “We would have had it terminated if were it not for John McCain and a couple of others, but that didn’t happen.”
Trump kept the offensive going in the months that followed. Indeed, as recently as last month, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said repealing the Affordable Care Act would be a priority in a second Trump administration.
The result is an uncomfortable question for voters: Are American families willing to vote for a presidential candidate who’s eager to tear down the nation’s health care system and replace it with an alternative he doesn’t want to talk about?
If you’re concerned about your family’s health security, would you really want to take a dramatic risk based on the vague assurances of a man who has a history of breaking promises?
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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