More Reporting Reveals Trump’s Agenda to Rip Away Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions
J.D. Vance has said the quiet part out loud about the Trump-MAGA health care agenda. On ‘Meet the Press’, Vance said Trump’s plan would “promote some more choice” by putting people in high-risk pools – meaning he wants to give insurance companies the power to charge people with pre-existing conditions more for coverage.
The Trump-MAGA agenda speaks for itself – no matter how many times Trump and Vance outlandishly claim they want to make the ACA “better.” Under Trump’s plan, we would return to the days when people with conditions like asthma, cancer, and diabetes could be left uninsurable and unable to access lifesaving care. Insurance companies would be put back in charge and given free rein to do whatever they want such as charge people more for insurance or deny coverage altogether. But don’t just take our word for it:
HEADLINES
New York Magazine: Vance: Trump’s Health-Care Plan Is to Let Insurers Charge More for Preexisting Conditions. “Vance is advocating a partial or complete return to the system that existed before Obamacare. In that world, prior to 2014, it was very difficult to find affordable coverage unless you were on Medicare, Medicaid, or got insurance through your employer. There was a market for individual insurance, and it was possible to buy plans if you didn’t get coverage through a government plan or through work. But that market was dominated by “adverse selection” — the only way insurers could make money was to weed out any customers likely to need medical care.” [New York Magazine, 9/17/24
MSNBC Opinion: Vance Signals New Troubles For Those With Preexisting Conditions. “Americans have some experience with this model. It’s the one that existed before the Affordable Care Act became law. States had high-risk pools to cover people with expensive health care needs — people with pre-existing conditions, for example — keeping them out of the patient pools with younger and healthier people. The high-risk pools, however, created dramatic problems for those who needed the most help: Americans with pre-existing conditions were stuck with plans they couldn’t afford and benefits that didn’t meet their needs.” [MSNBC, 9/17/24]
The Hill: Vance Revives Old GOP Fights On ObamaCare Insurance Coverage. “According to insurance experts, the general idea of a high-risk pool is to pull out of the market the sicker people who are a higher cost in order to reduce premiums for the healthy people who are in the regular market. But the pools rarely succeeded in covering people who needed insurance the most. They lacked sufficient funding, so people usually saw high premiums and limited coverage.” [The Hill, 9/16/24]
NBC News: Donald Trump Misrepresents His Push to Repeal the Affordable Care Act “Now, as he seeks a comeback in 2024, Trump has occasionally brought up his desire to revisit the ACA battle, calling for replacing the law last fall and declaring that “Obamacare Sucks.” This year, Trump’s campaign has softened its rhetoric against the ACA while still calling for alternatives. Trump admitted he doesn’t have a replacement plan.” [NBC News, 9/16/24]
Salon: JD Vance’s One Job Is To Clean Up After Donald Trump — But He Keeps Making A Bigger Mess. “On NBC News Sunday, Vance was asked about Trump’s bizarre assertion he had “concepts of a plan” when he was asked during Tuesday’s debate about healthcare. Vance claimed Trump didn’t end the Affordable Care Act because his philosophy is “to fix problems even if he disagreed with the original legislation.” This is false. Trump tried to kill the ACA in 2017 and failed only because a few Republican senators voted to keep it.” [Salon, 9/17/24]
Raw Story: J.D. Vance Returns To Hated ‘Death Spiral’ Health Plan Dropped By GOP Years Ago: Columnist. “Before Obamacare, Americans not receiving health care coverage from a federal program or an employer were dependent on individual insurance providers obligated to weed out the sick — or refuse them coverage — in order to turn a profit, Chait reported.” [Raw Story, 9/17/24]
Off Message: Vance Lets Slip: He and Trump Are Coming For Your Health Care. “Asked Sunday on Meet the Press to elaborate on Trump’s health care ‘concepts,’ his running mate JD Vance explained that the Trump health-care agenda is to wreck protections for pre-existing conditions (while lying about it). […] The text of the quote doesn’t include a revelatory gaffe like “concepts of a plan,” but it’s actually far more damning, because Vance dared to get specific, and the specifics of Republican health policy remain toxic and cruel.” [Off Message, 9/17/24]