Is It True That Donald Trump Wants to Repeal Obamacare? . . . And What’s Trump’s Healthcare Plan Anyway?
What People Are Asking
1. Is it true that Former President Donald Trump wants to repeal Obamacare (“the Affordable Care Act” or “ACA”)?
2. Is it true that as president Trump tried to repeal Obamacare, or did Trump save Obamacare?
3. Is it true that Donald Trump does not have a healthcare plan (Trumpcare plan)?
Is It True?
The Bottom Line
#1 Is it true that Former President Donald Trump wants to repeal Obamacare?
Answer: Unclear
Donald Trump has repeatedly said in the past that he wanted to repeal Obamacare. More recently, he said that if he can’t come up with a better health plan, if re-elected, he would run Obamacare better. The RNC/Trump platform does not address this issue.
#2 Is it true that Trump tried to repeal “Obamacare”?
Answer: Yes
It’s true that while in office, Republicans, led by President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Senator John McCain famously voted no, along with two other Republicans, thwarting Trump’s effort to repeal Obamacare.
#3 Is it true that Donald Trump does not have a healthcare plan?
Answer: Yes
It’s true that Trump does not have a healthcare plan. His 2024 platform does not offer a replacement to the ACA or a plan for improving the ACA.
Our healthcare system is vitally important to American citizens, and needs attention.
What Is Trump’s Current Position on Repealing Obamacare?
Nobody knows for sure whether Donald Trump remains committed to repealing Obamacare. During the September Presidential Debate against Kamala Harris, he seemed to indicate that he might try to replace the ACA if he could come up with a plan that was better and more affordable. But he did not offer a definitive position on whether he still wanted to repeal Obamacare or state what a better plan might be.
Our Takeaway Hard to tell.
It appears that Trump continues to voice dislike of Obamacare and might try again to repeal the ACA if he could come up with a better plan. In the alternative to coming up with a better plan, Trump might try to improve Obamacare in some unspecified way.
Is It True That Donald Trump Tried to Repeal Obamacare While in Office?
It’s true that Donald Trump tried to repeal Obamacare while he held office. Republican Senators John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski voted with Democrats against the Trump-led Republican effort to kill the ACA, keeping Obamacare in place.
But didn’t Trump save or salvage Obamacare? No. He tried to kill it.
But didn’t Trump work with Democrats to improve Obamacare? No. When their efforts to repeal Obamacare failed, Trump and the Republicans adopted other strategies, against the wishes of Democrats, to weaken Obamacare.
Our Takeaway Yes, it’s true.
Trump tried to repeal Obamacare when he was president. It’s not true that he salvaged or saved Obamacare or worked with Democrats to improve it. Statements suggesting otherwise are not credible.
Is It True That Donald Trump Does Not Have A Healthcare Plan?
Yes. When asked about whether he had a healthcare plan in the September Presidential Debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump said, “I have concepts of a plan.” He further stated that the public would be hearing about the concepts and tools “in the not-too distant future”.
A “Trumpcare” health plan doesn’t appear in Trump’s Platform, Agenda 47. The platform includes the following general statement about healthcare:
3. Affordable Healthcare Healthcare and prescription drug costs are out of control. Republicans will increase Transparency, promote Choice and Competition, and expand access to new Affordable Healthcare and prescription drug options. We will protect Medicare, and ensure Seniors receive the care they need without being burdened by excessive costs. [p.5]
The RNC/Trump platform also includes the following general statement about “Protecting Seniors” on issues related to healthcare:
2. Strengthen Medicare Republicans will protect Medicare’s finances from being financially crushed by the Democrat plan to add tens of millions of new illegal immigrants to the rolls of Medicare. We vow to strengthen Medicare for future generations.
3. Support Active and Healthy Living Republicans will support increased focus on Chronic Disease prevention and management, Long-Term Care, and Benefit flexibility. We will expand access to Primary Care and support Policies that help Seniors remain in their homes and maintain Financial Security. [p. 12]
KFF, (The Kaiser Family Foundation), is a respected non-partisan, non-profit source of policy, research, and news about national healthcare information. KFF provides the following context about Donald Trump’s position in the 2024 presidential election regarding a healthcare plan:
As a candidate for this election, he called to “never give up” on repealing the ACA, later adding “Obamacare Sucks” and that he would replace it with “much better healthcare.” He also said he was not running on terminating the ACA and would rather make it “much much better and far less money,” though has provided no specific plans.
Our Takeaway Yes, it’s true.
Donald Trump does not have a healthcare plan for the United States. He has provided neither a replacement plan for the ACA nor a plan for improving the ACA.
From Our Kitchen Table Talk to Yours- What We Think
More Focus on Improving Healthcare Is Needed
We think both candidates, the media, and the public should pay more attention to healthcare. Healthcare and medical outcomes in the United States lag behind other industrialized countries.
September 2024 study shows why Trump and Harris need to address US Healthcare System.
In summarizing its recent study of healthcare in ten peer countries, the Commonwealth Fund noted:
Key Findings: The top three countries are Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, although differences in overall performance between most countries are relatively small. The only clear outlier is the U.S., where health system performance is dramatically lower . . .
Conclusion: The U.S. continues to be in a class by itself in the underperformance of its health care sector. While the other nine countries differ in the details of their systems and in their performance on domains, unlike the U.S., they all have found a way to meet their residents’ most basic health care needs, including universal coverage . . .
The U.S. ranks last on four of five health outcome measures. Life expectancy is more than four years below the 10-country average, and the U.S. has the highest rates of preventable and treatable deaths for all ages as well as excess deaths related to the pandemic for people under age 75.
Many Americans struggle in dealing with healthcare. In 2023, more than 70% of Americans polled felt that the US healthcare system was failing them, despite being the most in the world by far.
The results and rankings for our healthcare system are simply not acceptable. KitchenTableTalk.org views medical outcomes, longevity, healthcare access, medical insurance costs and coverage, prescription drug prices, maternal and natal outcomes, and overall health and happiness of the nation as critically important. We believe all these issues touch on every American’s life and are truly “kitchen table issues”.
KitchenTableTalk would like to see more serious attention paid by both major presidential candidates to healthcare issues and to our poorly-ranked healthcare system. We believe healthcare issues are more important than many of the more polarizing, niche issues on which the candidates, the press, and social media users focus.
What do you think? Tell us— we’d like to know.
If You Want Facts Instead of Spin
Reliable Sources For Information About Healthcare, Trump, Harris, and Obamacare
KFF Health Misinformation Monitor monitors and reports on misinformation efforts and inaccurate political rhetoric about healthcare issues.
For a good review of the history of Donald Trump and Obamacare, read Forbes September 24, 2024 article “Has Trump Changed His Tune On Repealing Obamacare?”
For an overview of Trump’s actions with respect to Obamacare while in office, read “Six Ways Trump Has Sabotaged The Affordable Care Act,” from the Brookings Institute, October 9, 2020 “Trump Is Trying Hard To Thwart Obamacare: How’s That Going?” from NPR October 14, 2019.
For Kamala Harris/Democratic healthcare plans and policies, which seek to enhance and expand the ACA and provide a tax credit to lower health premiums, view their platform.
For a comprehensive comparison of Donald Trump’s/Republican healthcare plans and policies and Kamala Harris’/Democratic healthcare plans and policies, view KFF’s “Compare The Candidates on Health Care Policy”. Also, check out the Los Angeles Times October 3, 2024 “guide to the presidential candidates’ views on healthcare” and The Conversation’s September 10, 2024 “Health care under Harris and Trump: A public health historian sizes up their records”.
Kitchen Table Talk hopes for more healthcare policy discussion and better outcomes in the US.
