Vice President Harris Promises Lower Costs and Better Care While Trump Pushes For Higher Premiums and Worse Coverage
As tens of millions of voters head to the polls on Tuesday, the stakes couldn’t be higher – especially for the future of health care in this country. While Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to build on the Inflation Reduction Act and Affordable Care Act (ACA) by continuing to lower prescription drug costs and expand affordable coverage, MAGA Republicans are trying to turn back the clock and throw millions of people off their health care.
The last Trump administration was disastrous for the American health care system, and with Project 2025 as their blueprint, MAGA Republicans have big plans to raise costs or take away health care for nearly every American. Time and again, MAGA Republicans have declared they want to fight tooth and nail to raise costs, deny coverage to millions of people, and slash funding for Medicare and Medicaid. Trump and his MAGA allies are looking to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s measures that make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors, impose burdensome Medicaid paperwork requirements designed to throw people off of coverage, weaken protections for over 100 million people with pre-existing conditions, and even repeal the ACA entirely. Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have made it clear that they intend to take America backwards. Key points of the GOP health care plan include:
MAGA Republicans Want to Repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Donald Trump sabotaged affordable health care and pre-existing condition protections while he was in office, and has renewed his calls to “terminate” the ACA at least seven times over the last several months with MAGA Republicans echoing his calls. If Trump doesn’t succeed at repealing the ACA altogether, he will stop at nothing to gut it and other critical protections that the American people rely on.
MAGA Republicans Will Rip Away Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions. MAGA Republicans want to remove many protections for the over 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions made possible through the ACA, allowing insurers to deny coverage or charge more. MAGA Republicans also want to codify rules put forth by the Trump administration that expanded junk health insurance plans.
MAGA Republicans Will Raise Premium Costs on Middle Class Families. MAGA Republicans want to end enhanced premium tax credits that lower insurance costs for Americans, which were originally enacted in the American Rescue Plan and extended through 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act. These enhanced tax credits have reduced ACA Marketplace enrollees’ premiums by an average of $800 per year and contributed to record enrollment.
MAGA Republicans’ Health Care Plan Will Raise Drug Costs For Seniors. MAGA Republicans want to fully repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug provisions that are saving Americans thousands of dollars on health care. They want to raise costs on seniors while giving more tax breaks to drug companies and their CEOs.
MAGA Republicans Will Slash Medicare and Medicaid Funding. MAGA Republicans continue to push for raising the retirement age, which would cut benefits for millions of American seniors, and they have proposed cutting Medicaid spending by over 54 percent in the next decade and ripping coverage away from tens of millions of children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
If Republicans are successful in enacting their health care plan, 46 million Americans across the country risk losing coverage, 20 million will see higher premiums, and 67 million people on Medicare will have to pay increased drug costs for lifesaving medications.
If The Affordable Care Act Is Repealed:
- GONE: Protections for more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, including 54 million people with a pre-existing condition that would make them completely uninsurable.
- GONE: Medicaid expansion, which covers about 24 million people.
- GONE: Quality, affordable coverage for over 21.4 million people who buy insurance on their own.
- GONE: Lower prescription drug prices for over 54 million seniors who would have to pay more for prescription drugs because the Medicare ‘donut hole’ will be reopened.
- GONE: Critical funding for rural hospitals.
- GONE: Lower costs and better care for more than 67 million Medicare beneficiaries who will face disruptions to their medical care.
- GONE: Coverage for 2.3 million adult children who are on their parents’ insurance.
- GONE: Ban on insurance companies being able to charge women more than men
- GONE: Ban on insurance companies having annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
- GONE: Requirements that insurance companies cover prescription drugs and maternity care.
If The Inflation Reduction Act Is Repealed:
- GONE: A $35 monthly insulin cap for 4 million Americans on Medicare.
- GONE: Prescription drug savings for people on Medicare, including a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap and protections from drug company price hikes through inflation rebates. Nearly 19 million American seniors are expected to save an average of $400 per year.
- GONE: Free vaccines for 52 million people on Medicare, including for shingles and pneumonia.
- GONE: Medicare’s power to negotiate lower prices for the most popular and expensive prescription drugs. Nearly 9 million people take the first ten drugs that were selected for Medicare negotiation, which accounts for 20 percent of annual Medicare Part D spending.
- GONE: Prescription drug savings for 400,000 low-income seniors through the Medicare Part D Extra Help program.
- GONE: Free recommended vaccines for people with Medicaid and CHIP coverage.
- GONE: Premium tax credits that make premiums affordable for four out of five people who purchase health care on ACA Marketplaces.
