After Failing to Get the Votes, Trump Administration is Sabotaging Health Care at Every Turn
Washington, D.C. – As the one-year anniversary of bipartisan defeat of Affordable Care Act repeal in the United States Senate approaches, Protect Our Care today released a detailed report, Summer of Sabotage, which comprehensively lays out the extensive campaign the Trump Administration has undertaken to sabotage health care just in the last few months. The report covers every act of administrative sabotage since May, from the proliferation of junk plans and slashing funding for enrollment assistance to the nomination of an anti-health care judge to the Supreme Court.
“Whether by pushing junk plans that don’t cover people with pre-existing conditions or destabilizing the market, President Trump and his allies are directly responsible for the higher health care bills Americans are seeing,” said Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care. “This report makes clear the depth and breath of Republicans health care sabotage and how costs are rising because of it.”
“The Summer of Sabotage report lays out exactly what the president has done and how it will hurt patients,” said U.S. Senator Chris Murphy. “This is a critical time in this fight because if the president and his backers get their way, insurance companies will once again be able to jack up prices – or even deny care – to people with a pre-existing health condition. The American people need to know, so they can stand up and fight back.”
In addition to providing a status report on the premium increases insurance companies have filed this summer, the report analyzes a number of actions the Trump administration has undertaken to sabotage our care, including:
- Arguing against protections for people with pre-existing conditions in federal court;
- Encouraging Americans to sign up for junk plans, which would bring back discrimination against women, people with pre-existing conditions and people over age 50;
- Nominating Brett Kavanaugh, an extreme anti-health care judge, to the Supreme Court;
- Slashing funding for navigators that help Americans obtain insurance;
- Restricting access to Medicaid;
- Making it harder to find information about the ACA online, and
- Freezing the risk adjustment program, which could unnecessarily drive up premiums.
“President Trump and his allies continue their campaign to sabotage health care at their own peril,” said Leslie Dach, campaign chair of Protect Our Care. “Health care is a top-ranked issue for voters because they care about it — deeply — and because the actions Republicans have taken to rip health care away from us are happening in plain view, for all to see.”
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