During his calamitous first year in office, President Trump broke his health care promises again and again, taking a hatchet to the American health care system. With enthusiastic cooperation from Congressional Republicans, Trump’s Administration embarked on a campaign to sabotage and weaken our care that has already driven 3 million Americans into the ranks of the uninsured and spiked premiums for millions more.
“If there’s one thing President Trump’s first year in office made clear, it’s that Americans cannot and should not trust Republicans to protect our care. President Trump has spent the past twelve months systematically breaking every health care promise he made to the American people. As President Trump and his Republican allies ratchet up their war on our care in 2018, Americans must stand up to their outrageous sabotage of the American health care system,” said Brad Woodhouse, Campaign Director for Protect Our Care.
TRUMP’S PROMISE: “Everybody’s got to be covered.”
THE REALITY: Over 3 million Americans lost their insurance in 2017 because of Trump’s actions.
TRUMP’S PROMISE: “I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid.”
THE REALITY: Trump supports dramatic cuts to Medicaid included in Republicans’ failed repeal bills and his Administration encourages states to embrace policies that reduce Medicaid enrollment.
TRUMP’S PROMISE: “Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.”
THE REALITY: The Trump Administration embarks on a campaign of systematic sabotage:
January 2017
- On his first day in office, President Trump signs an Executive Order directing the administration to identify every way it can unravel the Affordable Care Act.
February 2017
- The Trump Administration proposes a rule to weaken Marketplace coverage and raise premiums for millions of middle-class families.
March 2017
- The Trump Administration sends a letter to governors encouraging them to submit proposals that include provisions such as work requirements that make it harder for Medicaid beneficiaries to get affordable care and increase the number of people who are uninsured.
April 2017
- The Trump Administration cuts the number of days people could sign up for coverage during open enrollment by half, from 90 days to 45 days.
May 2017
- House Republicans vote for and pass a health care repeal bill that would cause 23 million people to lose coverage and gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
June 2017
- Senate Republicans embark on a monthslong failed attempt to pass BCRA, Skinny Repeal and Graham-Cassidy, all repeal bills that would cause millions of Americans to lose their health coverage and raise premiums by double digits for millions more.
July 2017
- The Trump Administration uses funding intended to support health insurance enrollment to launch a multimedia propaganda campaign against the Affordable Care Act.
August 2017
- The Administration cuts the outreach advertising budget for Open Enrollment by 90 percent, from $100 million to just $10 million – likely to result in 1.1 million fewer people getting covered.
September 2017
- The Administration orders the Department of Health and Human Services’ regional directors to stop participating in Open Enrollment events. Mississippi Health Advocacy Program Executive Director Roy Mitchell said, “I didn’t call it sabotage…But that’s what it is.”
October 2017
- The Trump Administration takes direct aim at birth control by rolling back a rule that guaranteed women access to contraception. (A court has since questioned the legality of the action.)
- President Trump signs an Executive Order to roll back key consumer protections that will result in garbage insurance, raise premiums, reduce coverage, and again expose millions of Americans to discrimination based on pre-existing conditions.
- The Trump Administration dramatically cuts in-person assistance to help people sign up for 2018 health coverage.
- After threatening for months to stop funding cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) that help lower deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, the Trump Administration stops the payments altogether. The CBO finds that failing to make these payments will increase premiums by 20% and add nearly $200 billion to the debt.
November 2017
- Republicans refuse to move forward on the bipartisan Alexander-Murray bill to address the CSR crisis even though it had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
December 2017
- The Trump Administration proposes a rule to expand association health plans, which would gut consumer protections, raise costs for people with pre-existing conditions and further destabilize the insurance markets.
- Congressional Republicans pass their tax scam, which doubles as a sneaky repeal of the Affordable Care Act by kicking 13 million people off of their insurance and raising premiums by double digits for millions more.
January 2018
- The Trump Administration announces that it will support states that impose onerous work requirements on Americans covered by Medicaid, and approves Kentucky’s worst-in-the-nation waiver the next day.