Donald Trump is trying to con Americans into believing he doesn’t want to destroy the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), even though he repeatedly tried to do exactly that when he was in office. Now, two years into his 2024 presidential campaign and more than nine years after his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump is pretending to be thinking about how to improve Obamacare but won’t say anything about how to go about it.
As Rolling Stone put it, “After years of attempting to cripple the Affordable Care Act, Trump decided earlier this year to rebrand as its savior.” 1,500 physicians are calling his bluff:
A coalition of more than 1,500 American doctors and physicians are calling on Trump to provide an actual prescription to fix the law he’s maligned and vowed to repeal for almost a decade. In an open letter provided to Rolling Stone by the Committee to Protect Healthcare, physicians note that in April Trump “did an about-face, claiming he doesn’t want to ‘terminate the ACA’ but instead make it ‘much better.’”
“Mr. Trump has either refused or simply failed to share any concrete plans for improving the ACA, including in the most recent debate” the letter notes. “Our patients and Americans nationwide deserve to know what would be in store for their health care in a second Trump presidency so that they can make informed decisions on November 5.”
Yes, we all deserve to hear from Trump about an actual plan. Whether or not he tells the truth (and we know he won’t), any presidential candidate who talks about improving a health care system millions of Americans rely on should have such a plan ready for release to the public, especially after years of talking about it.
We already have some idea of what would be in store if the felonious fraudster makes it back into the White House. Project 2025, which Trump also pretends to run away from, tells us: A second Trump presidency means more money for his rich donors and less health care for the rest of us. The broad plan is to destroy and privatize Obamacare and Medicare as well as Medicaid.
My previous post for C&L was about hundreds of doctors and health care providers calling on Trump to release his medical records. To me, the importance of both these efforts is to highlight what Trump is trying to sweep under the rug more than any likelihood that he’ll come clean, though he certainly should.
There’s good news and bad news in the Trump campaign’s response. The good news is that the campaign obviously feels some pressure to look like they are dealing with the issue. The bad news is what more has been revealed.
According to The Hill, campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “is not running to terminate the Affordable Care Act.” That is definitely not a pledge that he won’t do so. “He is running to make healthcare affordable again by increasing transparency, promoting choice and competition, and expanding access to new affordable healthcare and prescription drug options,” she said. In other words, privatization and handouts to corporate donors.
Even worse, Leavitt also said Trump will “establish a special Presidential Commission of independent minds who are not bought and paid for by Big Pharma and will charge them with investigating what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic illnesses.”
You can read that as anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his brain worm in charge of your health care benefits along with fascist billionaire Elon Musk.
Trump should be pressured to answer about his health care “concept of a plan” every day. His medical records, too. Meanwhile, it’s good to be reminded of what we do know.
